Pukki should ignore any January interest

Teemu Pukki has been linked with a January move to Inter Milan but the striker should ignore any interest and see out the season with Norwich. The Nerazzurri are on the hunt for a back-up to marquee summer signing Romelu Lukaku, according to reports in Italy, and Pukki is on their hit list.
Pukki managed 29 goals in 43 games as Norwich won promotion last season and started this year with a bang, hitting five goals in the first three Premier League games, including a hat-trick against Newcastle.
The goals have dried up since, he has just one in his last five appearances for the Canaries, but he was back in scoring form over the international break with a double for Finland against Armenia.
It should come as no real shock to see transfer speculation surrounding the Norwich star, in fact it is a surprise the rumours took this long to surface, but the claims of interest from Inter should be taken with a generous pinch of salt.
Reports of Inter’s interest have come from Italy and there has been a bit of a scatter-gun approach in terms of picking out potential targets with a host of strikers said to be on manager Antonio Conte’s wishlist.
Burnley’s Jay Rodriguez, Chelsea veteran Olivier Giroud, Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic, SPAL forward Andrea Petagna and Udinese hotshot Kevin Lasagne are the other names to crop up on the Milan giants’ radar.
I’m going to say an Inter swoop for Pukki looks unlikely, but if I am proved wrong or any other club moves for the Canaries star in the winter window he should ignore any offers and see out the season at Carrow Road.
Much has been made of Pukki’s road to becoming a Premier League striker. The 29-year-old was once hailed as the next Jari Litmanen in his teenage years and earned a move to Sevilla but he failed to make an impact in Spain and returned to Finland with HJK two years later.
Unspectacular stints at Schalke and Celtic followed before he arrived at Brondby and then Norwich. Now he has finally started to fulfil his promise in one of Europe’s top leagues – why would he give that up to play a bit-part role?
Pukki has to be the first name on the team-sheet for boss Daniel Farke at Norwich and if the alternative is sitting on the bench at Inter and getting the odd 10 minutes here or there at the end of matches, his decision – IF the Serie A giants come calling in January – should be a no brainer, almost irrespective of the financial package they offer.