Football League World
·3 February 2021
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·3 February 2021
After several loan spells across Europe, Nelson Oliveira landed at Norwich City in the summer of 2016 with an expected flurry of goals.
A Benfica academy graduate, Oliveira had loan spells in his native Portugal, Spain, France and then in the UK at both Swansea City and Nottingham Forest, the latter being a bit more prolific with nine goals in 28 Championship games.
It was the Canaries though who ended his Benfica stint permanent four-and-a-half years ago having made just 12 appearances for the Portuguese giants and giving him a chance to kick-start his career elsewhere.
He joined Norwich at a time where they were aiming to get back into the Premier League, but his goals weren’t enough as Norwich suffered two mid-table finishes in a row, and Oliveira was frozen out by Daniel Farke in the summer of 2018.
He eventually secured a loan move to Reading halfway through the 18/19 campaign, but even though he netted three times in 10 games, that spell was overshadowed by a gruesome facial injury sustained at the boot of Tyrone Mings.
Oliveira did depart Carrow Road permanently in the summer of 2019 to AEK Athens in Greece for what transfermarkt have down as a £900,000 fee (and paid a heartfelt tribute to Norwich fans on Instagram), but how is he getting on there?
Oliveira was prolific in his first season in the Greek capital, netting 16 times in all competitions from 34 games, and his form prompted a mid-season bid from Premier League outfit Wolves for him to be a rotational option to Raul Jimenez – the offer was rejected.
AEK could only manage third place in the Greek Super League, and the current season has seen 29-year-old Oliveira become less of a goal threat, scoring just three times in 17 league games so far.
The club have gone one place better as of now by sitting second in the league, but they’re a long way behind runaway leaders Olympiakos, and Oliveira’s goals have been surpassed by Karim Ansarifard – a name that will be familiar to Nottingham Forest fans following his brief run there in 2019.
Norwich have definitely improved their striking options since Oliveira departed with the signing of Teemu Pukki, who has proven to be a real bargain, but the Portuguese striker is doing alright for himself in Greece as well.