Martin is on loan at Fulham from Derby County.
Speaking to Sky Sports’ EFL Weekly podcast on Thursday, Steve McClaren stressed that he hasn’t yet thought about recalling Chris Martin.
McClaren returned to Derby County as manager earlier this month but is without his star striker from last time around.
Martin finished as Derby’s top scorer in each of the last three campaigns but was loaned out to Fulham on deadline day by McClaren’s predecessor Nigel Pearson.
The Scotland international struggled initially this season, going 11 games without a goal for Derby or Fulham, but has started to find his feet of late, scoring twice and assisting once in his last two Cottagers outings.
With another loanee James Wilson returning to Manchester United through injury, there has been talk that McClaren could recall Martin five months early in January.
According to the Derby Telegraph, that could happen if all three parties reach an agreement, although with Fulham thought to have paid between £2.5 million and £3 million to borrow the 27-year-old, their cooperation is perhaps unlikely.
Asked if an early return to the iPro Stadium was possible, McClaren told Sky Sports’ EFL Weekly podcast: “I honestly don’t know, we haven’t really got into that.
“Once the dust settles a little bit and we get a gap in between the games, we’ll reassess where we are and what we’ve got.
“It was as much of a surprise to me as to anyone that Chrissy Martin had left on loan. It’s understandable, it’s the manager’s decision, he’s doing well at Fulham now, but we’re just concentrating on what we’ve got. We’ve still got good strikers and it’s an opportunity for them to stake a claim.”
Asked if he’d considered a recall, the 55-year-old stressed: “I’ve not really thought about it.”
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