Teemu Pukki could be the answer to Minnesota United's long, fruitless striker search

In the summer of 2018, Minnesota United seemed to change its goal-scoring focus: Instead of trying to develop young American strikers, the Loons simply would buy their goal scorers from overseas. And so they sold fan-favorite front-man Christian Ramirez, brought in Ángelo Rodríguez from the Colombian league and never looked back.

Five years later, with their signing of striker Teemu Pukki, they finally may have found a player who can make this decisionmaking shift look wise.

Pukki has scored five times in his past six games — the same number of goals, over that span, as the rest of MNUFC's players combined. For the year, heading into Wednesday night's game at Los Angeles FC, the Finn has six goals in 790 MLS minutes. Among players who've played more than the equivalent of three games, that per-minute scoring rate puts Pukki in the top 10 players in MLS.

It's rare that the Loons have had anyone land that high in any kind of striker ranking. The rundown of their post-Ramirez forward signings is a long list of underachievement.

First came Rodríguez, who was the team's primary striker for the year and a half after Minnesota sent Ramirez to LAFC. The Colombian managed just nine league goals in that span.

The Loons' next attempt was Luis Amarilla, a Paraguay native who'd scored a bunch of goals in Ecuador. Amarilla famously predicted a 25-goal season for himself in 2020; he got just three that year before getting injured.

After playing 2021 back in Ecuador, Amarilla returned for another crack at the 25-goal mark in 2022 — and once again failed to make it to double digits, scoring nine times over the full season. This season, Amarilla managed just two goals, both from the penalty spot, before Minnesota gave up and shipped him to Mexico.

In between Amarilla's two tenures, the Loons brought in Adrien Hunou, who'd had a decent scoring record in the top division in France. After the Frenchman scored just seven MLS goals in 2021, Minnesota sent him right back.

The three strikers — Rodríguez, Amarilla and Hunou — came from three different countries on two different continents, but their stats ended up remarkably similar to each other. All three averaged just slightly less than one-third of a goal per 96 minutes, in MLS play — in other words, just under one goal every three games.

Ramirez averaged almost exactly one goal every two games, long known as the scoring rate for a really good striker. Since his departure, there have been only two seasons in which any Loons striker both played at least 500 minutes, and scored more than a goal every two games.

One, of course, is Pukki's current season. The other season came from Mason Toye, who was just 20 years old in 2019, when he scored six times. Much as it did with Ramirez, MNUFC decided to sell high; in 2020, they swapped him to Montreal, after Toye averaged 0.41 goals per 96 minutes over three seasons.

Minnesota has tried a few-other short-term fixes. They played Robin Lod at striker, they signed MLS veteran Kei Kamara and they even tried bringing veteran Fanendo Adi out of semiretirement. They also brought in former Boca Juniors striker Ramón Ábila, who showed up out of shape, made only one start, and didn't last the year.

The current squad includes 24-year-old Colombian Ménder García, who's made 13 starts in 2023. Just like their overseas signings before, García has averaged less than a goal every three games.

MNUFC desperately needs Pukki to repeat his goal-scoring record. In five seasons with Norwich City, as the Canaries bounced up and down between the Premier League and the Championship in England, Pukki scored 87 league goals — almost exactly one every two games, just like Ramirez, and just like other standout strikers over the years.

It must be said that the Finn made a very slow start in Minnesota, including five games in the cross-border Leagues Cup without a tally. But now, he appears to be on a hot streak, including Saturday's draw with San Jose, when he scored once and should have scored another.

The chances are coming for Pukki. With Minnesota struggling to score goals, they need him to keep it up — and finally, perhaps, make fans forget about the team's decision to switch from Ramirez to other, more ordinary overseas options.