Burnley
Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City
Derby County
Leeds United
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Norwich City
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
QPR
Norwich City are making waves in the transfer market this summer, but nothing will ever compare to the time they signed Emi Buendia and Teemu Pukki within six months of one another.
With Liam Manning at the helm and Ben Knapper pulling the strings from above, Norwich City have enjoyed real success in terms of transfers ahead of the new season.
The £6.9m capture of Mathias Kvistgaarden has been hailed in particular as a stroke of genius by Knapper, who was able to find a bargain release clause in the Danish striker’s deal.
But, long before Knapper arrived at the club, Stuart Webber was the man organising transfer deals for the Canaries, and he had real success in that department, too.
Stuart Webber reveals the success of Norwich City signings
Speaking to Training Ground Guru about his work with Norwich, in particular the capture of both Emi Buendia and Teemu Pukki, Webber revealed exactly how he and his scouting team identified the pair as ideal signings.
He said: “Buendia was super interesting. He was playing for Cultural Leonesa, a really tiny team in Spain who were right near the bottom of the second division. He was on loan from Getafe.
“Our technical scouts at the time, a guy called Chris Badlan and Mariela [Nisotaki] were looking at his data and they were saying his expected assists are like off the charts. So what we did, and it can sound a bit basic, is we watched all of his attacking actions and judged for ourselves.
“The data is telling us he should have more assists, so let’s have a look and make our own mind up. Let’s visualise and think, if that was our centre forward, would he score? When you watch the chances he created, it was absolutely ridiculous. The guy up front there… he was useless.”
Buendia would go on to provide 41 assists in 121 games for the Canaries before becoming the most expensive Norwich sale of all time when he joined Aston Villa. But, he wouldn’t have enjoyed such a fruitful time at Carrow Road were it not for his partnership with Pukki.
Webber added: “That created a different conversation, because we probably didn’t have the profile of striker at the time who probably would score those chances. We had Cameron Jerome who was getting older and didn’t want to run in behind anymore. And Nelson Oliveira, who only wants to come to the ball.
“So actually, if Buendia was playing for us today, our expected goals wouldn’t go up that much. We signed Buendia in January but we left him out in Spain until the summer.
“We then spent the last six months of that season looking for a striker who could run in behind. And that led us to Teemu Pukki. We analysed all the goals he scored over three years and the percentage of goals he scored from the type of assists Buendia was creating, it looked like a match made in heaven.”
Pukki would go on to score 88 goals in 210 games for Norwich, cementing himself as a modern Canaries legend.
Norwich City already have their new Teemu Pukki, now they need Emi Buendia 2.0
Norwich City’s transfers this summer have got fans excited about the new season already, and there should be more to come.
Kvistgaarden could be a top signing if he fulfils his potential at Norwich, and Danish football expert Toke Theilade told us he’s already better than Pukki was at his age. High praise indeed!
| Stats | Emi Buendia | Teemu Pukki |
| Games | 121 | 210 |
| Goals | 24 | 88 |
| Assists | 41 | 29 |
Now, however, with Borja Sainz gone, Norwich are looking for a new creative outlet out wide who can feed Kvistgaarden in the coming season.
Pape Diallo has been touted as the Sainz replacement, but it remains to be seen whether he could come close to emulating what Buendia achieved at the club.
For us, the better option would be Tyrhys Dolan. It is said Manning has spoken to Dolan about a move to Carrow Road, and he’s a proven Championship talent, which is exactly what Norwich need if they want to secure promotion.