"Perfect" Chris Hughton signing became Norwich City cult-hero but didn't deliver the goods | OneFootball

Ricky van Wolfswinkel was never quite able to hit the heights every Norwich City fan hoped he would.

Ricky van Wolfwinkel's service to Norwich City was memorable, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

The Dutchman joined the Canaries for a reported £8.5 million fee from Sporting Lisbon in the summer prior to the 2013/14 season, with manager at the time Chris Hughton describing him as a "perfect fit" and a "proven goalscorer".

For Norwich City, van Wolfswinkel was anything but a "perfect fit", but that hasn't stopped some Norwich fans keeping tabs on what he's up to these days, and the "Wolf" still has a cult-hero status at Carrow Road.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel held huge expectation

Looking at van Wolfswinkel's stats before trading Portugal for Norfolk, it's clear to see why he was brought to the club.

After finishing 11th in the 2012/13 season, their highest league finish since the historic 1992/93 season, the Canaries were on the lookout for a new striker to replace the outgoing Norwich legend Grant Holt.

The Norwich Hall of Famer's boots were always going to be challenging to step into and when van Wolfswinkel's name was floated into the mix, it's unlikely many City fans knew who he was.

But the stats spoke for themselves, and he quickly became the club's record transfer signing at the time.

It felt like a natural next step for all parties, and it was a conversation with Manchester United's Robin van Persie when linking up with the Dutch national team that helped encourage van Wolfswinkel to make the switch.

'Be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf'

If there's ever an away kit marketing campaign that sticks out in the memory of Norwich City fans, most likely it's the 13/14 season's starring only Ricky van Wolfswinkel with the iconic tagline 'be afraid of the big bad wolf'.

He ushered in the new age of Norwich City, with the hopes of another Premier League survival and even dreams of pushing for Europe.

The club had never spent so much and with Gary Hooper and Leroy Fer also joining Chris Hughton's Norwich side in the summer, there was an expectation that it would be a season to remember.

The first game of the 13/14 Premier League season rolled around and Roberto Martinez's Everton would be the first to test the new Norwich. Van Wolfswinkel scored, earning the Canaries their first point of the season.

That would be his only goal of the season in 27 appearances, and Norwich were relegated.

He may have been able to restart his scoring record if not for Robert Snodgrass taking a penalty off van Wolfswinkel against Aston Villa and missing in a game the Canaries would go on to lose 1-0.

He was loaned out to St-Etienne the following summer following Chris Hughton's sacking towards the end of the season.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel would only score once more in a yellow shirt, in a League Cup second round fixture against Rotherham United. It was his final appearance for the club.

After another loan spell, van Wolfswinkel would permanently leave Norfolk to join Vitesse, the club where he was brought through the youth ranks.

What came after Norwich for van Wolfswinkel

For Vitesse and subsequent spells at FC Basel and FC Twente, van Wolfswinkel had no trouble finding the goal.

Former Dutch international and van Wolfswinkel's father-in-law, Johan Neeskens, supposedly said that "he will never score goals" in that Norwich side, suggesting that Hughton's style of football never played to his strengths.

He's perhaps more akin to a Teemu Pukki than a Grant Holt and, under another system, van Wolfswinkel may have been able to replicate his successes elsewhere at Carrow Road.

But van Wolfswinkel can never be accused of not putting in his best efforts in a Norwich shirt. He revealed that he played with injections during an injury stint, something that he would "never do again".

He also told the Sun: "I couldn't wait to help the team because they were at that point already in a difficult position."

This attitude and the sense of "what could have been" has garnered the Dutchman a cult-hero status at Norwich City.

During his time in Basel, van Wolfswinkel made national news having undergone treatment for a brain aneurysm only detected after a concussion check.

Many Norwich fans now look back on his struggles, realising he was not all to blame for his lacklustre goal record at Carrow Road, and these days, he's still playing Europa League and Eredivisie football for FC Twente.