It is high time for Norwich City to offload Nelson Oliveira

Norwich City need to offload Nelson Oliveira in the upcoming winter window. The 27-year-old is yet to feature for the Championship leaders this season. In fact, the Portugal international has made just two odd Premier League 2 appearances.

Having been frozen out of Daniel Farke’s squad, a move away from Carrow Road would benefit all the parties involved.

Oliveira was signed from Benfica in 2016. He has scored 28 goals and provided five assists in 93 Championship games since then. A full Portugal international, the player has two goals in 17 games for his country, including a memorable strike in a 5-1 win against the Faroe Islands to seal World Cup qualification.

However, things have gone south for the centre-forward in the Championship. Last season, Oliveira scored eight and assisted three in 37 games. He made a flying start to the campaign, coming off the bench to score an equalizer in a 1-1 draw at Fulham on opening day.

But that was the beginning of the end of Oliveira’s Norwich career. He lost his cool and took off his shirt aggressively holding it in Farke’s direction. The former Nottingham Forest loanee was protesting the manager’s decision to not hand him a start for that game (h/t Nottingham Post).

 

Nelson Oliveira went on to hit six goals in his opening 10 games. But just three more goals followed as the striker’s aim went wayward, with one being a penalty and the other a long-range late equalizer against Wolves. He also missed a penalty during the 1-1 draw to Derby County in February. Oliveira’s shooting gradually worsened as he registered a paltry record of just one goal in 22 games.

A total of eight goals in 40 games was a disappointing return for a forward who had shown great promise with 12 goals in 30 games during his first season with the Canaries.  Oliveira averaged the most shots in the Championship at 3.2 per game. However, he only averaged one shot on target per game.

With Teemu Pukki and Jordan Rhodes providing firepower and more up front, few Canaries fans will mourn Oliveira’s departure.

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Nelson Oliveira possesses all the right physical attributes. With grace, poise and technical ability, he could easily be plying his trade for the clubs in the upper echelons of the Premier League. Blessed with an excellent work rate and good dribbling skills, he can ping a pass and has the ability to shoot from a distance.

Nelson is still tied to Norwich by his current deal until the end of next season but the club must offload him as soon as possible.