Why Norwich City should reignite their interest in Kwasi Okyere Wriedt

According to a previous report from the Eastern Daily Press during the summer transfer window, Norwich City were interested in Bayern Munich striker Kwasi Okyere Wriedt.

However, the Bavarian giants weren’t willing to part ways with the centre-forward and a move to Carrow Road failed to materialize for the 25-year-old. 

The Canaries opted against spending too much in the summer window following their promotion to the top-flight and largely resorted to thrifty acquisitions, loan deals and free transfers to bolster their ranks prior to the start of the ongoing campaign. 

Ralf Fahrmann, Patrick Roberts and Ibrahim Amadou were brought in on loan deals from Schalke, Man City and Sevilla respectively while Swiss centre-forward Josip Drmic joined on a free transfer from Borussia Monchengladbach. 

However, such a policy in the transfer market has already shown signs of backfiring, with lack of adequate depth in all departments making it difficult for manager Daniel Farke to cope with injuries to several of the key first-team players early in the campaign. 

Given the club’s woeful defensive record in the Premier League and with centre-backs Christoph Zimmermann and Timm Klose currently on the treatment table to nurse long-term injuries, defensive reinforcements should be a priority for the Canaries in January, 

However, it won’t be a bad idea for them to invest in another out-and-out striker to compete with star man Teemu Pukki and Josip Drmic up top.

Pukki, who was Norwich’s promotion hero with 29 goals in the Championship last season, has already bagged 6 goals in 8 games in the top-flight, including a hat-trick against Newcastle United, but one does get the feeling that Drmic could find it difficult to step in and deliver the goods when called into action. 

To that end, Norwich City would do themselves a world of good by reigniting their interest in Kwasi Okyere Wriedt, who has continued his prolific run of form in front of goal for Bayern Munich’s reserves in the third-tier of German football. 

Wriedt bagged 24 goals in 34 games to help Bayern’s reserves win the Regionalliga Bayern, the fourth tier of German football, claiming the division’s Golden Boot in the process and the 25-year-old 2-cap Ghanaian international has continued his merry way this term as well, scoring 8 goals in 11 outings in the third-tier. 

Born in Hamburg, Kwasi Okyere Wriedt carved out a reputation for himself as a prolific scorer in the third and fourth divisions of German football over the course of his stints at FC St. Pauli II, LSK Hansa, VfL Osnabruck before earning a coveted move to Bayern Munich in 2017. 

The towering 6ft. 2-inch hitman made a couple of substitute appearances for the Bavarian giant’s first-team in the 2017-18 campaign and featured in the matchday squads on a number of occasions but stiff competition for places hasn’t allowed him to get a look in from the manager. 

Now, with his contract at Bayern set to expire next summer, the door is very much open for Norwich to wrap up a cut-price deal for the striker in January in a bid to add more firepower to their attack.

A physically-dominating centre-forward with a lot of power and a devastating eye for goal, Wriedt might not have too much top-level experience but he has the attributes to excel in the Premier League

Plus, the 25-year-old won’t be a big gamble for the Canaries, given that Bayern would hardly demand a lot of money for a player who hasn’t played in their first-team for a long time and is already nearing the end of his contract. 

Wriedt’s arrival would provide Farke with a much-needed plan ‘B’ in attack towards the second half of the campaign and the Ghanaian might as well prove to be a massive bargain for the Canaries if the gamble pays off. 

• More Norwich City News
• Why Norwich City should go all out to sign Georgios Masouras in January
• Here are 3 things everyone can learn from Norwich City
• Why Norwich City should quickly snap up free agent Mehdi Zeffane

Marco Stiepermann, Mario Vrancic, Tom Trybull, Onel Hernandez and Zimmermann were all brought in by Farke as completely unknown entities from the lower echelons of German football and their successful transition to the English surroundings should prompt the manager to play a gamble on Kwasi Okyere Wriedt, who has already shown enough promise in his career. 

That said, Norwich City should not hesitate to reignite their interest in the out-of-favour Bayern Munich star in January.