Teemu Pukki: 5 interesting facts about Norwich City striker Pukki, who has taken the Premier League by storm in his debut season.
Teemu Pukki has been phenomenal in the Premier League even though, the 29-year-old striker is playing in England’s top-flight tournament for the first time.
The Finnish International is surely gaining prominence in the Premier League with every match, and he is certainly enjoying his goal-scoring spree.
In just three appearances in the league, Pukki has scored 5 goals making him a serious contender to the Golden Boot race this season, as he is already topping the charts.
Norwich City have already faced two of the six elite teams- Chelsea and Liverpool in the league already and Pukki has scored against both the sides, thus clearing the fact that the striker is still lethal against the strong clubs in this race.
Although, it is early to predict something huge for Pukki, but the Finnish striker has certainly raised eyebrows and it is observable that he is high on confidence with his goal-scoring spree, which is surely helping Norwich City lately.
Pukki’s heroic performances are gradually making him a hero figure for the Canaries, with the Finnish International also helped Norwich City with the qualification to the Premier League after amassing 29 goals last season.
Hence, with little all we know about Pukki right now, we discuss 5 interesting facts about Pukki ahead.
Also read: Tammy Abraham second goal today vs Norwich City
#1 He had a trial with Chelsea
Today, Pukki was hard to handle for Chelsea defence as he was involved in both the goals for Norwich City. Ironically, the 29-year-old player had a trial with the Blues 13 years ago and today he scored one and gave one assist against the same club.
Flemming Berg, a former scout at Chelsea spotted him and even arranged a trial for him to prove his calibre. However, things did not work out for them at that time.
“We had one day before the transfer window shut and we needed a striker. I had followed Teemu since he was 16 when I was working for Chelsea as an international senior scout.
“I saw him play for Finland Under-17s at a tournament in Portugal, knew I had seen something special and told Chelsea about him. Teemu had a week’s trial at Chelsea but maybe it was too early for him. A couple of years later, he went to Sevilla.” said Berg.
Later, the same scout helped him to sign for Celtic, where he had a decent spell.
#2 He was Van Dijk’s teammate
Virgil Van Dijk has reached the pinnacle of football and to be considered as the best defender in the World. Although, once both the players were teammates at Celtic.
Their partnership between the two was short-lived as Pukki had a brief stint with the Scottish club and left after a season. Now, after 5 years both the players faced against each other.
Whilst, Van Dijk is now the best defender in the world, Pukki is a hero at the Norwich City, and despite the Dutch International’s brilliance, Pukki scored a goal against him.
#3 First player to score 4 goals in first two Premier League game-weeks
All the headlines had one name after the completion of the game-week 2 as Pukki scored his hattrick against Newcastle to win the match by 3-1 at home.
And Pukki would have never believed if someone had told him at the start of the season that he will make a Premier League record, and indeed he made one, as he was the first player to score four goals in the first two games of the Premier League.
Soon followed by Raheem Sterling, who scored against Tottenham Hotspurs to make it four goals in his tally. Thus, the record goes to Pukki, who gave much delight to the fans with his memorable performance at home.
#4 He was signed for free by Norwich City
Teemu Pukki had a rough career in his initial days, although he found some success with Brondby and had scored around 55 goals, but eventually, he ended up being released by the Danish club after failing to agree with a new deal.
Later, the striker joined Norwich City but had to play in the second tier of English football but that helped Pukki to be an icon for the Canaries, as he scored 29 goals in the Championship to help his new club to advance to the Premier League.
This is certainly the best transfer by Norwich City in this decade, as surely Pukki is solely giving them value in the Premier League but a lot has to be still done by the Canaries.
#5 He is a national hero
“The country’s chief sports broadcaster is allowed to show one Premier League game live and they religiously pick the Reds. The debate raged as soon as Norwich’s 3pm kick-off was announced as top billing. Pukki proved they made the right decision.”
“It’s not just television. Norwich’s No 22 is on the front page of numerous magazines and discussed by radio presenters. Everyone likes him. Where Finnish children were once pretending to be Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the playground, they now want to be Teemu Pukki.”
This is in an article written by Michael Bailey for the Athletic, and this just displays how beloved is Teemu Pukki at home with his recent heroic performances.
Since then tributes have been flowing in for Pukki, as days after Pukki’s hat-trick against Newcastle, Kotka councillor Joona Mielonen proposed Ruonalan Halli, the indoor pitch where KTP train in the winter, be renamed after Finland’s No 10. Thus, no doubt that Pukki is now more than a national team player.
