Van Wolfswinkel is reborn at Basle and waiting to bite City
RICKY van Wolfswinkel scored in his first game for Norwich City and his last. The problem was in between — the 26 consecutive blanks that saw the Dutch non-striker embody the term Premier League flop.
So it’s a surprise to find the likeable 29-year-old standing between Manchester City and Champions League progress this week having revived his career at Swiss champions Basle.
And should City fans scoff, it’s worth noting Van Wolfswinkel has scored a European winner against them before. His goal for Sporting Lisbon in 2013 knocked City out of the Europa League, hastened the departure of Roberto Mancini and earned the player a move to England.
‘They had class players. Some of them, like Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Yaya Toure are still there,’ says Van Wolfswinkel.
‘We won the first leg 1-0 in Lisbon, a defender scored a crazy goal. And though we lost 3-2 at City, my goal (the second) was important in the end. We were stressing in the last 10 minutes, nerve-racking. But we made it through.’
Van Wolfswinkel knows Pep Guariola’s team are a different proposition now. ‘Their level is unbelievable,’ he says.
But he, too, is different from the mid-20s version who struggled so badly in the Premier League when Norwich were relegated in 2013-14.
‘You wouldn’t need a big bit of paper to write down all my goals,’ says van Wolfswinkel. ‘First game Everton, then I stopped. I’d started in Holland where everything was football, from the back to the front. At Sporting, we always made the play because our team was better than the opposition.
‘I knew Norwich had played defensively the previous season, so I spoke to Chris Hughton before I signed and said it wouldn’t suit me.
‘He convinced me he wanted to bring in new players who played football. They signed Gary Hooper, Nathan Redmond, myself and at the start they did try to change.
‘But there was a moment, around November or December, when Chris called me into the office and said: “It’s not working out. We need points, so we are going to play a little more direct”. Chris is a gentleman. He was honest, so I had to accept it. We played everything to the bigger body, Johan Elmander.
‘Every player wants the ball, As a striker, you need the service if you want to score goals. It got hard for me. There were some games where I got very few touches. If I’d missed a hundred chances, I’d feel worse about it. But in the end there were no chances.’
He foolishly played on despite a toe injury.
‘I took an injection before a game against Chelsea and at half time. I was stupid to do it but I couldn’t wait to help the team,’ he says.
He was eventually substituted during a 3-1 defeat and ended up being out for two months.
‘I chose to play with injections which I would never do again,’ he says. ‘I saw many specialists. It was a rupture and took a long time.’
The Canaries went down and Van Wolfswinkel was an outcast towards the end. ‘They’d do 11 versus 11 in training and I wouldn’t be on either side’,’ he says.
After spending two seasons on loan at St Etienne and Real Betis, he eventually signed for Vitesse Arnhem in 2016, Norwich taking an £8m loss on their £8.5m signing.
He signed for Basle last summer and scored nine goals in 11 games before breaking a foot after scoring in a 5-0 Champions League win against Benfica. He is now fit again after Switzerland’s midwinter break and promises City: ‘I am a much better player now than I was at Norwich.
I play for a good footballing team and it shows in my goals. I am stronger, more experienced as well. We are underdogs against City, a lot of people expect them to win the Champions League but there is no pressure on us. We can play with a clear head, a free mind.’
Basle must gain a result in Tuesday’s first leg at the atmospheric St Jakob Park to stand any chance of advancing to the quarter-final but they defeated Manchester United there earlier this season.
Van Wolfwinkel keeps a close eye on the Premier League and noted Guardiola’s eccentric rant at his former Carrow Road team-mate Redmond after Manchester City had beaten Southampton earlier this season.
‘Pep is a passionate man and a player like Redmond is a player from his own heart,’ he said.
‘People might think “What is this guy Guardiola doing? Is he crazy?” Nathan just stayed cool and quiet. He is an amazing player, great personality-wise.
‘It’s a massive compliment Pep spoke to him. This is a type of player who will go to a big club and it could be City.’
As a Dutchman, Van Wolfswinkel loves the way Guardiola has taken the Johan Cruyff philosophy to a new level.
‘He has a vision,’ says the forward. ‘People said City were naive at the back or play too much football but that’s his idea. Most of the time, football will always survive.’
Basle’s own manager is 40-year-old Raphael Wicky, one of the new generation of bright European coaches. Van Wolfswinkel describes him as ‘honest and friendly’ but the player likes the old-timers too, including Louis van Gaal who picked him for Holland.
Van Wolfswinkel will turn 30 next January. He still has plenty of ambition left. ‘I didn’t show what I was about in England,’ he admits.
‘There is always a small part of me that wants to show the player I am.’
Another European goal against Manchester City should do the trick.