The £8.5m Norwich City transfer that will live long in the memory for the wrong reasons | OneFootball

Norwich City made one of the worst signings in the club's history back in 2013 as they brought in Ricky Van Wolfswinkel who will live long in the memory of supporters for all the wrong reasons.

Amidst anticipation and high expectations, Norwich City secured the services of Van Wolfswinkel for a then-club-record fee of around £8.5 million as reported by the Daily Mail.

The Dutch international did not match the price or expectations on the pitch though with the money spent on him wasted, as the Canaries were relegated to the Championship as they struggled for goals, the very thing Van Wolfkswinkel was bought for.

Why did Norwich City go all out to sign Ricky Van Wolfswinkel?

Norwich were trying to build on a successful season in the 2012/13 season as they finished 11th under Chris Hughton so were willing to spend some money to improve the squad.

Players such as Nathan Redmond, Gary Hooper and Leroy Fer were signed to improve the attacking quality of the side as a whole but Van Wolfswinkel was the one that everyone was talking about.

He had an incredible goal-scoring record for Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon as in 86 games he scored 45 goals.

Also before his time in Portugal, he proved he knew where the back of the net was in Holland, scoring 43 goals in three years for Vitesse Arnhem and Utrecht.

This is exactly why it appeared to be a statement signing for Hughton as he had been able to attract what appeared to be one of the top young talents in Europe.

The striker made his debut in the first Premier League game of the season against Everton and the surrounding excitement was vindicated as he scored the equaliser to get his side a point.

Yet after that, it all went downhill as he scored zero goals in his next six starts before spraining his ankle and missing a run of games.

He returned to the side but things didn't start to improve and he never scored a goal again in the league for the club, after selling the Norwich supporters a dream on his debut.

A goal against Rotherham United in the League Cup was the only other one he managed and once the club suffered relegation, he went out on loan to French side Saint-Etienne.

After nine goals in his season in France, he spent another campaign out on loan from Norwich, this time at Real Betis in Spain, but again he only managed one league game before he left Carrow Road permanently.

How did Van Wolfswinkel's career go once he left Norwich?

He returned to Vitesse for one year after he left England in 2016 and he found his form back as he scored 23 goals to Norwich fans' disbelief whilst also winning the KNVB Cup.

After that successful year, he spent three years in Switzerland with FC Basel and he again won a domestic cup however he suffered a brain aneurysm in 2019.

He still managed to return though, and he did play for Basel again before joining FC Twente back in his home country which is where he is today.

The 34-year-old has so far this season already done better than he did at Norwich as he has scored five goals which says it all about his torrid time in the Premier League.