Whatever happened to: How two Norwich City European signings found their way home.
- Oliver Middleton
- Aug 28, 2020
- 6 min read
Norwich City fans will now be well accustomed to an unknown arrival from a European league. But Oliver Middleton takes a look back at two of the Canaries former forays into the European Market, Dieumerci Mbokani and Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, to see how their careers progressed after their time at Carrow Road.
On the back of their play-off final victory, Alex Neil prepared to march his yellow and green army into the Premier League promised land. The former Hamilton enforcer was undertaking his first transfer window as a full-time manager and he knew exactly what he wanted – Premier League experience and a new frontman to fire the Canaries to safety and the Scotsman further into Norwich City folklore.
Alex Neil’s squad didn’t exactly raise eyebrows. He’d assembled the personification of an experienced Premier League squad. They already possessed a wealth from players who had been there and done it before with Norwich, but with seven new additions arriving, so were 538 Premier League appearances between them. There wasn’t much for Canaries fans to get excited about. Youssouf Mulumbu and Graham Dorrans may have been sensible moves, but let’s just say flair wasn’t really in their vocabulary. That’s why it was two players with zero topflight appearances between them that had Norwich fans particularly licking their lips.
Dieumerci Mbokani and Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe presented Norwich with a different option for the 2015/16 season: unpredictability. Yes, Odjidja-Ofoe had been with the club a year prior, but injury plagued his first season leaving many Norwich fans still wondering what exactly they had in the box-to-box Belgian. Both had arrived with significant pedigree in the Belgian Jupiler League - Mbokani boasted a particularly impressive scoring record in his previous years. 45 goals in 111 games at Standard Liege had secured him moves to Monaco and Wolfsburg respectively. But the big Congolese found himself on the fringes at Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kiev come the summer of 2015.
Odjidja-Ofoe too had arrived with some pedigree. The Belgian international had come close to a move to Everton in 2012, but his paperwork was registered four minutes too late. Alas, a move that particularly excited former Manchester City Captain and Belgium team-mate Vincent Kompany was never completed. Nevertheless, the Club Brugge midfielder continued to excel in the Belgian first division, amassing over 200 appearances for “De Club” before Norwich City came calling in August 2014.
Both Mbokani’s and Odjidja-Ofoe’s time at Norwich was brief. The pair chalked up 49 appearances between them, with the latter only appearing 19 times in his two-year stint with the Canaries. Mbokani in particular shone at times in a yellow shirt. The Congolese was City’s top scorer in the 15/16 campaign, firing seven goals from just 14 starts. A brace against Watford for the already relegated Canaries, a back-heel in a crazy 5-4 defeat to Liverpool, and a howitzer in Norwich’s 6-pointer vs Newcastle, saw Mbokani become somewhat of a fan favourite during his time at Carrow Road. His physicality did cause problems for Premier League defences, but it wasn’t enough to keep Norwich in the topflight. Odjidja-Ofoe started just three times in his one and only Premier League campaign, however the Belgian did provide two assists for teammates in this time. His slaloming run and assist for Alex Tettey’s goal in the Canaries 1-0 win over Southampton will probably go down as his only memorable moment in a Norwich City Shirt.
Come August 2016, and both were gone. Mbokani’s loan move never became permanent, and Odjidja-Ofoe decided to try his luck in the Polish first division with Legia Warsaw. But what ever became of the two? The two both secured new moves for the 2016/17 season, with differing success. Unlike Odjidja-Ofoe, Mbokani decided to continue his career in England. Exactly a year to the day since his loan move to newly promoted Norwich, Mbokani decided to replicate the move and arrived at newly promoted Hull City on loan for the 16/17 season. Sadly, a match made in heaven with Steve Bruce’s “picturesque” hoofball never came to be - Mike Phelan and Marko Silva took the reigns and Mbokani never got a look in. 14 appearances across all competitions and zero goals meant Hull City never got to enjoy the dominant displays of previous years.
Contrastingly, Odidja-Ofoe immediately showcased what Norwich City never saw. The Belgian helped Legia Warsaw win the Polish league title in 2016/17, Odjidja-Ofoe recorded 14 assists and five goals as well as collecting the player of the season award for the division. All this as well as a sensational effort against Spanish giants Real Madrid in the group stages of the Champions League. This all seems especially odd when his only goal in English football had come in a game against Cardiff while on a one-month-loan at Steve Evans’ Rotherham.
After his disastrous spell with Hull City, Mbokani returned to Dynamo Kiev at the start of the 17/18 season, along with a return to regular first-team football. The forward scored 12 goals across 31 appearances, helping his side to 2nd place in the Premier Liga. It was time for a new challenge however, and with it a return to a previous home. A new challenge was exactly what was afoot for Odjidja-Ofoe as well. After his impressive displays in Ekstraklasa, Greek Giants Olympiacos were the next to take a gamble on the midfielder’s potential top-level talent. The Greeks shelled out £2.25m in transfer fees for the former Belgian international, however he failed to impress as Olympiakos fell to their lowest league position in 22 years. Just under a year after his arrival, he was on the move again.
After years of dotting between clubs, the former Norwich City players made their latest moves. A return to Belgium, and a return to stability. Mbokani signed for Belgian Pro League side Royal Antwerp on a free transfer, and Odjidja-Ofoe moved to KAA Genk on a permanent deal – costing £1.98m. In the twilight of their careers, both players have experienced somewhat of a resurgence since returning to the country where they made their names. Mbokani has become one of the Jupiler Leagues most lethal strikers - long gone are the days as Alex Neil’s target man. The forward scored 39 goals across 73 appearances at the ripe old age of 34, as well as securing the Ebony Boot as top goal scorer for the 19/20 season. Mbokani averaged an impressive 0.26 goals per shot across the 19/20 season. In comparison, Teemu Pukki averaged 0.21 goals per shot in his 30-goal season as Norwich City won the Championship title in 2018/19. Admittedly, the Congolese took fewer shots than the Fin, but the striker still proved he was more clinical in dangerous situations – in fact, all of the forward’s 18 goals last season came inside the penalty area.
Odjidja-Ofoe has also impressed upon his return to Belgium, establishing himself as one of the best midfielders in the Jupiler League. Odidja-Ofoe averages a whopping 15.03 progressive passes per game as he shifts Gent into offensive situations - no other player in the Belgian top-flight comes close. In comparison, former Norwich midfielder James Maddison averaged far fewer, with 8.15 progressive passes per 90 last season. Similarly, Odjidja-Ofoe averages another league high in smart passes. On average, the midfielder made 3.06 smart passes per 90 minutes across the 19/20 season - the closest competition providing just 1.74. This means the Belgian not only had the vision to pick out riskier passes, but the quality to find teammates regularly as well. However, it isn’t just passing where Odjidja-Ofoe finds himself in a league of his own - the midfielder has also become an excellent dribbler. The Belgian completes almost double the amount of his closest rivals for progressive dribbles per 90mins, averaging 4.02 per game. For a player who struggled to find his feet under Alex Neil, Odjidja-Ofoe doesn’t seem far off a good option for Daniel Farke’s Norwich City revival.
Through a succession of changes over the past few years, they now find themselves enjoying some of the best performances of their career. Granted, the Jupiler League represents a step down in quality from the highs of the Premier League, but there’s certainly a reason why we see so many young talents playing in the division eventually finding themselves excelling in the English game. Mbokani and Odjidja-Ofoe may be on the wrong side of 30, but their performances illustrate why Norwich City took the gamble on acquiring the pair. It may not have worked out for the pair in England, but the two can now enjoy the final few years of their career in a place where they are fully appreciated. Big moves will likely never come calling again, but with Odjidja-Ofoe in particular, you can’t help but wonder what Farke would have made of the pair had the two have been on the books when the German coach rolled into town.
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