Taiwo Awoniyi’s goals could keep Nottingham Forest in the Premier League

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Final month, Nottingham Forest ended their 23-year absence from the Premier League with a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield City within the Championship play-off remaining.

Steve Cooper masterminded a miraculous turnaround on the Metropolis Floor, taking the membership from the underside of the second tier to the highest flight in a matter of months.

Forest had quite a few heroes final season, with gamers equivalent to Brennan Johnson, Keinan Davis and Sam Surridge shining in assault all through the marketing campaign.

Nonetheless, it was clear that Forest would want reinforcements. Getting out of the Championship is one factor, however surviving within the Premier League is a totally completely different proposition altogether.

As a consequence, Cooper wasted no time in strengthening his squad – brining in Union Berlin ahead Taiwo Awoniyi for a membership document charge of £17 million.

So, who’s Taiwo Awoniyi? Why did Forest break their switch document to signal him? And will his objectives maintain the membership within the Premier League?

Awoniyi is a 24-year-old Nigerian ahead with 4 senior worldwide caps to his identify, having represented his nation at this 12 months’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The 6ft striker burst onto the scene again in 2013, scoring 4 objectives en path to lifting the FIFA U17 World Cup trophy with the Tremendous Eagles.

Subsequently, Liverpool signed Awoniyi in 2015. However because of problems surrounding his work allow within the UK, he was despatched out on seven mortgage spells between 2015 and 2021.

The final of his mortgage spells noticed him be part of Bundesliga aspect Union Berlin. After impressing throughout the 2021-22 season, Union made his deal everlasting – paying £6.5m to accumulate his companies.

Final season, Awoniyi took his recreation to a different degree. He bagged 20 objectives and 5 assists in 43 video games throughout all competitions, lighting up the Bundesliga and the UEFA Europa Convention League.

Awoniyi’s 15 Bundesliga objectives in 31 appearances noticed him end sixth within the 2021-22 scoring charts, behind a few of the highest-profile forwards in European soccer.

Solely Robert Lewandowski, Patrik Schick, Erling Haaland, Christopher Nkunku and Anthony Modest netted extra Bundesliga objectives final time period.

Awoniyi boasts the proper mix of tempo, energy, physicality and consciousness. He’s additionally an adept finisher, that means he can rating objectives from all areas.

Regardless of having one of many smallest budgets in Germany’s high tier, Union Berlin completed fifth final season – thanks largely to the objectives of Awoniyi.

After all, the Premier League is an enormous step-up from the Bundesliga. But when Awoniyi’s latest exploits are something to go by, he may play a key position in steering Forest away from relegation hassle.