Norwich City were left scratching their heads at £8.5m flop | OneFootball

Norwich City signed Ricky van Wolfswinkel in July 2013 from Sporting CP, but his time at Carrow Road was a disaster.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel arrived at Norwich City in July 2013 for a hefty fee, but largely flattered to deceive during his stint at Carrow Road.

Norwich were just coming off the back of an 11th-place finish in the Premier League in the 2012/13 campaign, and manager Chris Hughton sought new recruits on the pitch to build upon what was a successful season for the Canaries.

In came the likes of Gary Hooper from Celtic, Leroy Fer from FC Twente, Martin Olsson from Blackburn Rovers and Nathan Redmond from Birmingham City for multi-million pound fees.

But their most expensive outlay that summer was on Dutch striker van Wolfswinkel, who they purchased for £8.5 million from Portuguese outfit Sporting CP, after the Dutchman enjoyed two strong seasons in Lisbon.

It was hoped that van Wolfswinkel would fire in the goals to shoot Norwich up into the top half of the table, but what transpired couldn't have been much further from the case.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel's time at Norwich City was disastrous by almost all metrics

Life in East Anglia began brightly for the twice-capped Dutchman, scoring on his debut in a 2-2 draw at home to Everton. But that was as good as it got for van Wolfswinkel in canary yellow.

He retained his place in the starting lineup for each of the next six matches. However, an ankle sprain ruled the Dutch striker out for the next seven games, and with Johan Elmander and the aforementioned Hooper waiting in the pecking order, van Wolfswinkel struggled for consistent game time upon his return.

Van Wolfswinkel started just nine more matches for the Canaries that season without registering a single goal contribution, as manager Hughton was sacked and Norwich were ultimately relegated to the Championship.

The Dutchman headed out on loan to French side Saint Étienne and Spanish club Real Betis for the following two seasons, where again he struggled to find the form which made him so coveted in Portugal.

He would eventually leave Norwich on a permanent basis in July 2016 after just one goal and one assist in 25 Premier League games, returning to the Netherlands with Vitesse for a portion of the fee that saw him switch from Lisbon to Suffolk just three years earlier.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel found success elsewhere, but his time with Norwich City remains a disappointment in his career

Van Wolfswinkel hit 24 goal contributions in 32 Eredivisie games for Vitesse in his solitary season for the club, earning a move to Swiss Super League club FC Basel, where he would spend the next four years.

Now back in the Netherlands with FC Twente, the 36-year-old is a consistent fixture in the starting lineup at the club and has scored 52 goals in 164 appearances for the club in all competitions.

In a career which has seen him play in six different countries across Europe, van Wolfswinkel's career is one filled with many ifs and buts.

His time in Norfolk was undoubtedly a low point for the Dutchman, having failed to adapt to life in the Premier League, but Canaries fans will always wonder what could have been if things had gone a little differently.

One can only wonder what could have been achieved if that money was invested into a talismanic figure more capable of adapting to English football, too, with Norwich heading down to the Championship in the 2014/15 season.