This article forms part of our Total Duds feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at how a player has fared since being signed or sold, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to prove how bad a deal the club got.
Back on deadline day in August 2013, Celtic managed to pick up Teemu Pukki for £2.25m, per Transfermarkt. The Finnish striker was in his early 20’s and could have possibly been seen by the club as a striker who could have been at Parkhead for many seasons. However the Hoops should have seen the fact that Schalke 04 let him go after only two campaigns as a warning sign and he ended up having not the best of careers in Scotland.
Pukki only managed to make 38 appearances for the Celts and did not have a great scoring tally as he only picked up nine goals, per Transfermarkt. Clearly the Scottish side were not satisfied as he was loaned out to Bröndby IF after only one season at the club.
After his one-year loan ended, Celtic did not decide to keep him tied down on a contract and let him leave on a permanent deal to Brondby for £608,ooo. Sadly his career at the Hoops did not work out and his time at the club was not one that many will remember fondly.
Howver, after his struggles in Scotland, he is now excelling at Norwich City in the Premier League, where he has scored 11 Premier League goals in 28 games, whilst also scoring 41 goals in 75 games during his Canaries career.
This highlights that maybe the Celts should have kept him and possibly could have made a profit on him, but instead he was a disappointing signing who lost the club money.
Hoops fans, could Pukki have excelled at Celtic or was he the wrong man at the wrong time? Comment below with your views!
