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‘He’s one of the most sought after players in England’ - City goal machine proves Lennon right
Teemu Pukki has stepped up to the Premier League with a bang at Norwich City Picture: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd - Credit: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd
Neil Lennon brought Teemu Pukki to Britain and the Norwich City’s striker’s goalscoring impact in the Premier League proves his judgement was spot on.
Pukki failed to establish himself at Celtic during a two-year spell in a previous Parkhead stint for the current Bhoys' boss.
But the Finn has enjoyed a prolific period at Carrow Road since arriving on a free transfer in 2018. Lennon, speaking to Sun Sport, insisted he knew the 29-year-old was top drawer the first time he saw him.
"We went to Finland to watch Pukki and it was quite a funny story," he said.
"He was playing for his international team and myself and Johan Mjallby flew over to Helsinki.
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"We went to the Olympic Stadium and there was nobody there. It turned out we'd gone to the wrong city.
"We had to go back to the airport and hop on another flight. We ended up catching Pukki for the last half hour of the game.
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"But he showed more than enough in that 30 minutes to convince us to take a punt on him.
"He did okay, he was only a young lad back then. But he's matured into a top striker now.
"Pukki had a spell at Brondby and when I was at Hibs, he played against us and did okay. But he's become explosive since then and has really kicked on at Norwich in the last two seasons.
"Pukki's an exciting Premier League player now and I doubt very much few people would have seen that coming.
"He had a year or so at Celtic and only scored nine goals, now he's one of the most sought after players in England. It's a great story and fantastic for him.
"I'm delighted it's worked out for Teemu at Norwich, but it shows people here often write players off too quickly. That's the environment we're in."
