Norwich were first linked with Dutch international striker Ricky Van Wolfswinkel in the January 2013 transfer window but no deal materialised.

On 22nd March 2013, Norwich announced that they had agreed a fee for Wolfswinkel from Sporting Lisbon with him due to join the Canaries on 1st July 2013. This was for an undisclosed fee reported to be approximately 10m euros / £8.5million

The 24-year-old has scored 82 goals in 188 appearances in a career that started in Holland with Vitesse Arnhem and then FC Utrecht before moving to Portugal for 5.4m euros joining Sporting Lisbon.

He has won one senior cap for Holland against Ukraine in August 2010. He won 7 caps for Holland's Under-21s scoring three goals.

The Norwich manager, Chris Hughton, said: "Ricky's profile is a perfect fit for us. He's young, ambitious and a proven goalscorer. He has an excellent goalscoring pedigree and he's a young man very keen to continue his personal progression and to play in England. He's already an exciting talent but he still has more development as a player ahead of him.I'm delighted we've been able to agree a deal with Sporting Lisbon and with Ricky and we look forward to welcoming him to the squad in July, once all of the paperwork gets sorted out."

He completed his transfer to Norwich on 1st July 2013 becoming the club's record signing. He as convinced to join Norwich by his girlfriend's father Dutch legendary footballer Johan Neeskens. "I spoke to him before I came to Norwich," 24-year-old Van Wolfswinkel told BBC Radio Norfolk. "He said only one thing: 'Ricky, you have to go. It's a great club for you, if you have a great feeling, do it.'"

Ricky made his debut for Norwich on 17th August 2013 in the Premier League clash with Everton at Carrow Road. The game finished 2-2 with Ricky scoring a brilliant header to equalise for the Canaries and secure a point. He didn't score again all season (in 27 appearances) and Norwich's failure in front of goal was the primary reason behind their relegation from the Premier League at the end of 2013/14. In the close season, he was linked with moves to Benfica and PSV.

Despite scoring twice in Norwich's pre-season friendly win over Braintree in July 2014, Norwich allowed Van Wolfswinkel to join French club St Etienne on a season long loan on 5th August 2014. St Etienne paid a loan fee of £1.25m and have the option to sign Van Wolfswinkel for £6m if they wish to keep him longer.

Ricky scored 9 goals in 35 appearances for St Etienne and returned to Norwich at the end of the 2014/15 season.

In July 2015, Ricky was linked with a move back to Sporting Lisbon but failed to agree personal terms.

Despite playing in the Capital One Cup clash with Rotherham on 25th August 2015 and scoring, Ricky was loaned to Spanish side Real Betis on 30th August 2015 for the remainder of the 2015/16 season. He played 20 games for Betis, scoring three goals.

In June 2016, he was linked to Dutch club Feyernoord by Dutch website fr12.nl He was also linked with a loan move to Birmingham City before he retruned to Holland on 28th July to join Vitesse Arnhem for approcimately £550,000.

In his first season with Vitesse, they won the Dutch Cup, beating AZ 2-0 on 30th April 2017 with Ricky scoring both goals.

On 14th June 2017, Van Wolfswinkel signed for Swiss champions Basel who will play in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League. He had scored 23 goals in 37 games for Vitesse. He signed a three year deal with Basel for an undisclosed fee.

Following a routine scan for concussion in August 2019 following a Champions League qualifier against ASK Linz, a brain aneurysm was spotted and he undertook surgery. At the time he had scored 24 goals in 56 appearances for the Swiss champions.

He announced on 26th August 2020 that he would be leaving Basel at the end of the month , following the Swiss Cup final which they lost 2-1 to Young Boys.The contract between FC Basel and van Wolfswinkel ran out on 31st August 2020, but a week later, on 7 September, the club announced that he signed on for another two years.

He returned to the Netherlands on 21st July 2021 signing for FC Twente whose technical director Jans Streuer had signed him for Vitesse. Ricky signed a two year deal with a further one year option as a free agent.