Nottingham Forest retain Emmanuel Dennis and Taiwo Awoniyi services

Nigeria internationals Emmanuel Dennis and Taiwo Awoniyi will be staying with relegation-escaped Nottingham Forest for the upcoming season, the club have confirmed on Friday.

The development was announced by the club via an official released list of their retained players ahead of the new season.

Expectedly, Taiwo Awoniyi featured prominently on the list of retained players after scoring 10 goals to top the scoring chart for the club despite starting just 17 times for the team.

The 26-year-old Nigerian, who joined from Union Berlin for £20m last summer, helped Nottingham Forest to finish their first top-flight season in 16th after 23 years.

Awoniyi becomes the first Nottingham Forest player to score 10+ Premier League goals since 1994/95, joining Stan Collymore, Nigel Clough, and Bryan Roy as the only players to do so.

His goals had put Nottingham Forest in front eight times in the just-concluded season becoming the second player in history to score more opening goals for a newly promoted club.

The last player to open the scoring more times in a single season for a newly promoted club was Andrew Johnson with Crystal Palace in 2004-05, opening the scoring nine times.

His compatriot, Dennis was also among the players that was retained despite playing a few games for the club.

“Nottingham Forest can confirm its retained list following the conclusion of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign,” the club announced via its website.

“Six senior players’ contracts have come to an end: André Ayew, Cafú, Jack Colback, Jesse Lingard, Jordan Smith, and Lyle Taylor.

The club would like to thank each player for their contributions during their time at The City Ground.”