Former Ibrox player and current Morton boss Jonatan Johansson has tried to explain why his fellow countryman Teemu Pukki never made the grade in Scottish Football with Celtic but is now tearing up the English Championship.
Teemu had one full season at Celtic where he failed to make any real impact; it was in a season where Celtic striker’s were firing blanks and an unlikely top goal scorer emerged in Kris Commons.
During his time at Celtic, Teemu made 38 appearances for Celtic scoring nine goals and assisting in three.
Just over a half a season into his Norwich City switch the player has played 30 games, scored 19 goals and made six assists.
Johansen has a theory and it’s all about confidence for the Finnish player. The striker left Celtic and moved to Brondby where he played some excellent football and became a much more confident player.
“Teemu was always a talented boy and a great kid and earned a move to Seville in Spain when he was very young,” Johansson told EDP.
“He then went to Scotland with Celtic and although he had some good moments there, it wasn’t easy for him. But when he moved to Denmark, I think his confidence rose. He scored more goals and also his fitness and body shape changed, which was down to a lot of hard work. Norwich are getting the benefit of that now because the Championship is a really physical league and Teemu has no problem coping with it.”
Teemu is on course to become a Premier League player with Norwich currently sitting top of the EFL Championship table on goal difference.
It would be an excellent story for the striker who for whatever reason just couldn’t get to grips with the Scottish game. It’s a case of some players just don’t fit in at a club but can do the business elsewhere.
