Onel Hernandez has seen just how far Norwich City have come since his arrival – and knows exactly how it has happened.
The Cuban winger signed for the Canaries in January 2018, completing a £1.7m move from Eintracht Braunschweig with City beached in Championship midtable.
Only Grant Hanley’s signature has cost City more money in the post-Alex Neil era.
Now following Hernandez’s eighth goal for the club at Middlesbrough on Saturday, Daniel Farke’s squad head into back to back home games with the chance to put Premier League promotion beyond doubt.
It has been an outstanding turnaround inside 16 months – and Hernandez has played a big part in the journey.
“I think it’s because we work a lot, the philosophy of the coach – these are all points that we use this year – and we work as a team; we are so close together with the coach, with all the staff in Norwich, with the club,” said Hernandez.
“This is so emotional this year. You feel the passion every time and I love it. When I am in the changing room sometimes, the young and old boys – you feel it from them; they tell you how you can do better.
“Like at Middlesbrough when I came in at half-time, Timm (Klose) came up to me and told me what I could do better against the defender.
“This is the key and I love it too much. I hope we keep going on and will see what happens in the two home games. But yeah, it’s good teamwork and that has been the key this year.”
Plenty of times this season, questions have been asked of Norwich – and far more often than not they have found the right answer.
No more than seven further questions now remain, and Hernandez does not believe the initial lack of expectation around the Canaries’ Championship prospects will have any bearing on finishing the job.
“We are not nervous,” added Hernandez. “I think we all know what situation we are in and when I see the squad before the game, everyone has fire in their eye and wants to fight and give all the best.
“We are confident we will do that, we never give up and if we go behind, this is what the coaches say to us every time – that we have to keep fighting, keep going on and never lose our spirit.
“This is what makes the team this year, that we work all together and we fight for everyone. This is very special.
“Of course this is a very good position but we have not to think about what happens and who plays where, we have to do our homework and see step-by-step what happens.”
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