Teemu Puk’s contract with Minnesota United has been published.
Samu Saatsi,
Mika Halonen
The Finnish men’s national football team’s all-time best goal scorer Teemu Pukki moves to the North American MLS series. Puk’s new club is Minnesota United announced what he had done with the Finn of the agreement on Tuesday.
Puki’s contract lasts until June 2025. It has a club option until December 2025.
Minnesota hinted at the move on Twitter first by posting a video, where the camera photographs the flags of different countries. Finally, the camera stopped at the Finnish flag. Moments later, the club announced the acquisition of Puki.
Pukki joins the club as a free agent on a free transfer. The Finnish striker represented the English Norwich City in the Premier League and the Championship for the last five years.
There was time to take Bukki to an MLS club amid transfer rumors for several weeks. Minnesota’s local publications and soccer league transfer reporters reported a week ago that Minnesota United had just made a contract offer to Puk.
Next, Pukki is still waiting for paperwork, such as a work visa, to be sorted out, Minnesota’s press release says.
Minnesota head coach Adrian Heath is glowing that Puki’s statistics from the Premier League, the Championship Series and the Huuhkaji speak for themselves. Heath described Pukki as a great professional who always has a smile on his face.
– I feel that we got the goalscorer that we wanted by Christian Ramirez from departure. He is the gold standard, a proven goalscorer, Heath described.
American Ramirez represented Minnesota from 2014 to 2018.
DP rule
MLS league clubs have a salary cap. However, it can be deviated from with a so-called designated player contract. The value of the player’s entire contract is not counted against the salary cap. Each club can have a maximum of three DP players.
The DP salary cap rule is also known by its nickname the Beckham rule, as it was created in 2007 by the English star who transferred to the league David Beckham’s by.
US media previously hinted that Minnesota United would sign Puk under the DP clause, as the club are said to be offloading their Paraguayan striker Luis from Amarilla, which takes the place of one DP player. Earlier in June, Minnesota confirmed that Amarilla will move to the Mexican league, Mazatlan FC.
Minnesota confirms in its announcement that Pukki will join the club with the DP rule. In addition to Puki, the club’s DP players include an Argentine attacking midfielder Emanuel Reynoso and the Colombian striker Mender Garcia.
A club familiar to Finns
Founded in 2016, Minnesota United is already familiar to Finnish players. Puki’s radar pair from the Finnish national team, Robin Lod has represented the club since 2019. Before that, the one currently in Huuhkaj also played in the club Rasmus Schuller and finished his national team career Jukka Raitala.
A total of 29 teams – 26 from the United States and three from Canada – are playing in the North American MLS series, which is played in the summer season (time window from February to March to the end of October).
Five Finnish players are currently playing in the series: Lod in Minnesota, Robert Taylor at Inter Miami, Lassi Lappalainen in Montreal as well Leo Vaisänen and Alexander Ring at Austin FC.
Minnesota United is currently in 12th place in the MLS Western Conference. There are four points away from the playoff fight. In their next game, Minnesota will face Germany’s Kaiserslautern on June 29 in a friendly match. In MLS, Minnesota next plays on July 2 against Portland.