The curious case of Nelson Oliveira

After playing 37 of Norwich's 46 games last season, it seemed Nelson Oliveira was an important player at the Championship club.

Chipping in with 8 goals and 3 assists in those games, the Portuguese striker produced a decent return for his side, who only managed a 14th place finish last campaign.

Despite falling short of promotion, the club stuck with the same manager in Daniel Farke to lead them into the new campaign. As such, many would be forgiven for thinking that Nelson Oliveira would end up playing a fairly significant role for Norwich this season.

However, it has ended up being a disastrous campaign for the Portuguese international, who has not only failed to play a single minute for Norwich this season, but has been left out of every single Norwich squad across all competitions.

Oliveira needs a move to get his career back on track, and fast. Where his next destination may be, though, remains to be seen.

The 27-year old, once deemed the future star striker of the Portugal national team, has had interest from elsewhere; former club Swansea were reportedly monitoring the player, while Reading are also actively pursuing the option to bring in the 17-time senior international.

With compatriot Jose Gomes now manager of the club, who will know all about the potential Oliveira showed when in Portugal, the move becomes even more likely, although a potential deal is not yet close to occurring.

Reading manager remained coy on any interest in the forward, commenting that he is a "good striker" and he "cannot comment" on Reading's reported interest in the former Benfica player.

With Oliveira completely out of the picture at Norwich though, who are sitting in 2nd place in the Championship, he may well be available for a very reduced fee.

Author: Fanny Schertzer.