Norwich City's Teemu Pukki 'unbelievable' after Celtic flop - Kenny McLean
- Published
Teemu Pukki and Kenny McLean both joined Norwich last summer
Kenny McLean says he still teases Teemu Pukki about being a flop with Celtic despite the Finland striker being "unbelievable" for Norwich City.
Pukki has scored 32 times in 53 games this season and helped the Canaries secure promotion last weekend.
But the 29-year-old only lasted a season at Celtic Park before being loaned out to Brondby.
"I give him a bit of stick about that," said team-mate McLean. "But I could not believe the way this guy plays."
Pukki only found the net nine times in 39 Celtic appearances before spending four years with Brondby ahead of his arrival in England's Championship last summer.
"Our two strikers are him and Jordan Rhodes and you've never seen anything like it," Scotland midfielder McLean told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.
"I just didn't see him being so quick, so sharp. His movement and contribution is unbelievable. He's also had about 11 or 12 assists."
Scotland striker Rhodes is among those who have experienced the joy of promotion only to find themselves displaced by expensive new signings, in his case with Middlesbrough.
But McLean believes manager Daniel Farke will stay loyal to most of the squad that returned them to the top flight.
"If you look at teams like Fulham, who have tried to do it a different way by spending fortunes, I think they brought in about 12 bodies, but it didn't work," he said.
"The way the manager's built this squad, there are a lot of young players and I think he will try to keep most of them together, because we are still improving.
"The style we play, if you bring seven or eight boys in, it is going to take time to adapt and you've not got that time in the Premier League."
McLean's first season in English football after a summer switch from Aberdeen had a frustrating start when he was sidelined through injury from August to January.
"But when I got in, it has been excellent since," he said. "We crawled over the line with a few draws in recent weeks, but we managed to get there on Saturday at home to Blackburn."
A draw away to Aston Villa on Sunday would secure the league title and McLean believes few would have tipped them at the start of the campaign after finishing 14th last season.
"Last season, when the manager came in, there was a bit of a transition, but they gave the manager time and that was always the plan," McLean added.
"He needed to get his ideas across and this season we've put them in place and we've just went from strength to strength."