Dean Smith reveals he once tried to sign Norwich’s Teemu Pukki – is he their most dangerous player to stop this weekend?

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has revealed that he once tried to sign Norwich striker Teemu Pukki when he was at Brentford.

Villa take on Pukki’s Norwich side this weekend, with Villa looking to get the better of Daniel Farke’s side after falling to two defeats last season.

Smith revealed that he was a keen admirer of Pukki when he was at Celtic, and that the forward could be a huge threat for Villa’s defence.

The Villa boss said, via the Birmingham Mail:

He’s a good player, he scored a lot of goals last season.

I’ve seen him play a number of times for Celtic as well when he was there. He certainly upped his level last season and then has started the season well this, scoring goals again.

He’s a handful and one our centre-backs have to very wary of.

I don’t think our centre-backs have played against him before. Tyrone Mings certainly didn’t play against him last season, and Bjorn Engels, and Ezri Konsa probably play against him for Brentford.

Read ASton Villa’s verdict

Pukki will be a huge threat to Villa’s defence at the weekend, especially after Villa’s poor start to the campaign at the back.

The Finn netted against Villa back in May, and Dean Smith will be hoping that this doesn’t repeat itself on Saturday.

Norwich have a lot of stars, and Pukki is surely the biggest threat of the lot of them.