Ricky van Wolfswinkel makes his first competitive return to England since an unhappy spell at Carrow Road in FC Basel's prestige Champions League opening group tie at Jose Mourinho's Manchester United on Tuesday night.

City's record signing, who scored twice in 28 senior outings during a three year spell at the Canaries, has revived his career back in his native Holland and now with the Swiss champions.

The 28-year-old scored 20 goals in 32 games for Vitesse Arnhem last season, and won the Dutch Cup, after finally leaving Norfolk for a nominal fee following a series of loan stints at St Etienne and Real Betis.

Van Wolfswinkel has since continued that prolific form with seven goals in seven games for his latest club and is the main goalscoring threat for Basel head coach Raphael Wicky's plans to cause an upset against the early Premier League leaders.

'I can only judge his record in England by seeing it was not as good as it was in Holland, Portugal and Switzerland,' he said, speaking to Talksport. 'I only want to judge him from the time he has been in Switzerland and he has been fantastic for us. He is looking fantastic on the field - he is a real striker in the box, he knows where the goal is - but he is also fantastic to have in the team as a personality.

'Of course he can (score goals in the Champions League like he has in Switzerland). I believe that he can score and I hope that he will score goals in the Champions League for us as well.'

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Van Wolfswinkel labelled his time at 'kick and rush' Norwich as the toughest of his career, but Basel captain Marek Suchy insists the ex-Sporting striker has already been a big hit.

'I think Ricky has been performing well since he came,' he said. 'He is showing his qualities. For us, he's our offensive number one and we are hoping in each game, also in the (United) game, he can do his job and score goals.'