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Teemu Pukki reveals the reason why he failed at Celtic

By Sourav Mahanty

BARCELONA, SPAIN - DECEMBER 11: Teemu Pukki (C) of Celtic FC gets between Gerard Pique (R) and Javier Mascherano of FC Barcelona battles for the ball against during the UEFA Champions League, Group H match between FC Barcelona and Celtic FC at the Camp Nou Stadium on December 11, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - DECEMBER 11: Teemu Pukki (C) of Celtic FC gets between Gerard Pique (R) and Javier Mascherano of FC Barcelona battles for the ball against during the UEFA Champions League, Group H match between FC Barcelona and Celtic FC at the Camp Nou Stadium on December 11, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images) /
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Teemu Pukki has been on fire recently after scoring five goals in three Premier League matches for Norwich. But before he was taking the Premier League by storm, Pukki was a flop in a Celtic shirt struggling to find the back of the net. Now he has opened up about why he believes he failed to shine with the Scottish champions.

Most Premier League fans might be recently learning about the goalscoring prowess of Teemu Pukki but those who watched the Finnish striker play in the Championship last season already know about his ability to put the ball in the back of the net. After all, he scored 30 goals for Norwich last season as they earned promotion to the Premier League. But do not be fooled into thinking that Pukki has always been this phenom in front of goal.

Pukki began his senior career back in 2006 with Finnish side, KTP, and impressed enough to earn himself a move to Sevilla two years later. But he would spend most of his time in Spain playing for their reserve side Sevilla Atletico and returned to Finland in 2010 with HJK Helsinki. It is during the 2010/11 season that he first showed a flash of his ability as a striker, scoring 11 goals and providing 8 assists in just 13 league starts.

His impressive form saw him join Schalke the following season after he scored thrice in two games against them in the Europa League qualifiers. Pukki though failed to replicate the same form for the German side as he scored just 8 times over the next two seasons.

It is in September of 2013 that Teemu Pukki joined Celtic for an undisclosed fee and signed a four-year contract with the Scottish champions. It all began well as he scored against Hearts on his debut before doing the same on his home debut against St Johnstone. But then things started to fall apart for the Finn and he would leave for Brondby the following season after scoring just 9 times in 37 appearances for the Hoops.

It is at the Danish club that Pukki would finally find the consistency that he hadn’t in his entire career till then. Spending four full seasons at Brondby, he scored 71 goals for the club based on the outskirts of Copenhagen. It is in 2018/19 that he joined Norwich and carried them to the EFL Championship, winning the EFL Championship Player of the Year in the process.

Now the Norwich star has opened up about why he feels he failed to succeed at Celtic Park. Speaking with Chris Sutton for the Daily Mail, he said:

"“I got the call, ‘Celtic want you’. And I knew Celtic were a top, top team. I thought it would be much easier than it was. It was quicker than I thought. When you got the ball, there was always a defender at you.”"

It is safe to say Pukki is not the same player that he was back in 2013 and there is not much about the Scottish Premiership that would shock him today. Just remember the next time you see him destroying Premier League teams, it took him multiple failures to become the success that he is today.

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