ALTHOUGH unable to repay them the way he would have liked, Ramon Nunez admits he owes a debt of gratitude to Scunthorpe United.

It is thanks to his sterling form on loan at Glanford Park that the Honduran international has been given a chance to prove himself at parent club Leeds United.

Prior to his six-week stay with the Iron, Nunez had struggled to make his mark in West Yorkshire.

But a run of games, and the opportunity to sparkle with his array of tricks, has prompted the Whites to take up the option to extend his contract by a further year.

"I'm very grateful because they (Scunthorpe) did give me the opportunity," the 25-year-old, who featured eight times for United, told the Telegraph.

"At the time when I signed, I was in desperate need of games. I wanted to play and I'm very lucky I got to do that.

"Given that opportunity, you play well in games, and I think the players and the manager have a lot to do with that as well.

"I really didn't have the opportunity at Leeds before, and I think I've proved, or have shown, I'm capable of playing at this level or even higher.

"To be completely honest, I enjoyed it very much.

"I enjoyed every training session and every game, they are a great bunch of guys there.

"They helped me to settle in straight away, which is very important when you're on loan.

"But I wanted to help the team stay up, so it's an unfortunate situation.

"I really do hope Scunthorpe can come back up to the Championship, but, overall, I think it was very positive for myself."

A return to North Lincolnshire on loan next term has not been ruled out.

But Nunez concedes his priority will be to break into the Leeds first-team.

Adding to his two substitute appearances for Simon Grayson's club is his immediate target.

"I don't know, it's a little too early to say," said the midfielder when asked about a possible return.

"I'll go back for pre-season with Leeds and will try to win a spot there, that's my first objective.

"I'll show I want to be part of the starting XI.

"They have told me they want me to stay, so we'll see if it's the best decision.

"I briefly got a chance to speak with (Grayson), he was pretty happy with how it went at Scunthorpe and I was happy as well.

"I can take a lot of positives from my time there, definitely more positives than negatives – the playing time, scoring goals and meeting new team-mates and making new friendships, that's always good.

"I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right times to score goals.

"And I tried to work on my defensive game because that's not really my strong point.

"But with the game time, I got the chance to do that."