Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki signed for the Canaries on this day in 2018, so we’re taking a look back on the Finn’s time at the club so far…
From signing on free agency, to scoring the winning goal against the defending Premier League champions, it has been some story for Pukki in his time as a Canary.
2018-2019 – Becoming a Canary
After a standout season in Superliga for Brondby, interest from Stuart Webber and Daniel Farke soon followed. In 44 appearances for the Danish champions, Pukki found the back of the net 19 times, assisting a further eleven goals.
Pursuing the striker’s signature in preparation for the 2018-2019 season, Pukki shortly made the switch to City for his first season in the Championship.
It didn’t take long for him to translate that finishing instinct over to the English second division either, both scoring and assisting in his second game for the Canaries against West Bromwich Albion.
Going on to have one of the most successful seasons for a striker in Championship history, Pukki finished his debut season with City with 29 goals and ten assists, only bettered by Glenn Murray at the time with 30 goals. To make things even better, Teemu even wrapped his season up with a Championship winners’ medal!
That medal gave Pukki and his fellow Canaries a golden ticket to the Premier League, where top-flight football awaited in the 2019-20 season.
2019-2020 – The best league in the world
It was some welcome to the Premier League for City as they travelled to Anfield to face Liverpool in their first game of the new campaign, the Reds having just come off a Champions League win against Tottenham Hotspur in the previous season.
Despite the step up in quality from the Championship to playing the champions of Europe, Pukki wasn’t fazed, scoring City’s only goal in front of a packed out Anfield on the first day of the season in their 4-1 loss.
In the following game against Newcastle United, in front of a home crowd, the Finn then went on to score a spectacular hat-trick, including a screamer volley against Steve Bruce’s side.
That scoring continued into City’s face-off with Manchester City at Carrow Road, when the Canaries took an iconic 3-2 win over the defending Premier League champions, Pukki both scoring and assisting in this classic underdog tale.
The striker proved himself to be a big game player over the course of the season, scoring against Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Spurs, only missing out on Manchester United as part of the ‘big six’.
Even through City’s struggle in the Premier League, Pukki went on to make the most of his debut season, scoring eleven goals and assisting three as the Canaries went back down to the Championship
2020-2021 – We rise again
In the Canaries most recent season, it was no surprise to see the striker back among the goals as usual despite relegation blues, setting up Adam Idah’s winner in the first game of the new campaign against Huddersfield Town.
The Finn was back to his best as City came back to the Championship swinging, scoring seven goals in the first 13 games, until injury sidelined him for a week, missing out on Coventry and Luton Town fixtures.
As the Canaries started taking charge of the league and separating themselves from the rest of the table, Pukki hit his stride in the later stages of the season, scoring seven goals in five consecutive games.
Only rivalled by Brentford’s Ivan Toney, the striker continued finding the back of the net for City as they stormed the division, scoring his only hat-trick of the season in the Yellows’ 7-0 win over Huddersfield at Carrow Road.
Finishing the season with 26 goals and four assists in 42 games, Pukki once again proved to be one of Farke’s strongest assets in their title-winning campaign. Now, another bite of the cherry awaits in the Premier League for the Finn, as he continues to write his story with the Canaries.
