Why Nottingham Forest's Awoniyi should be considered signing of the season
Taiwo Awoniyi might actually be the signing of the season.
A few eyebrows were raised when Nottingham Forest paid a club-record fee to pry him away from Union Berlin ahead of their return to the Premier League. Awoniyi had a successful 2021/22 season in the Bundesliga, scoring 15 times across 2,200 minutes for the German side following his £6m move from Liverpool.
Though he’d done well for the capital-based club, it was the first campaign in which he’d regularly been among the goals. Prior to that, his best return was five league goals. If Forest had earmarked him as the man to score the goals to keep them in the division, it was a gamble.
It appears to have paid off though. With two games left to play, Steve Cooper’s men are three points clear of the relegation zone having picked up seven points from their last four matches.
Awoniyi has four goals and an assist across these matches. He netted a double in the 4-3 win over Southampton and then followed that performance up with another two-goal showing in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge.
Cooper heaped praise on the centre forward following his showing on Saturday.
"He (Awoniyi) scored with his head as well which we were very pleased with that," Cooper told Premier League Productions.
"We talked about it and there was a chance at Brentford that we thought he could have done better with, so it was good that he got the two goals. Especially the first one, I think he showed good bravery.
"You always want your striker to score goals and we have goals in the team so really pleased for him. Don’t forget he missed large parts of the second half of the season being injured. It shows his commitment to return to the team, play well and now get a few goals which is a real plus."
The 25-year-old also assisted in the 3-1 win over Brighton at the end of April. He’s hit form at the perfect time for Forest.
At a glance, eight goals is not that much of an impressive return when we’re 36 games into the season. However, Awoniyi missed 15 matches after suffering a groin injury in early January.
He’s made just 15 starts and racked up 1,244 minutes.
But a goal every 155 minutes when he’s not a penalty taker, and he’s had something of a stop-start campaign adapting to a new league, is quietly impressive. Is it enough to justify the claim he’s the signing of the season? Not without context, no.
So here’s the context.
Awoniyi has scored in six matches for Forest this season. Of those games, three have been 1-0 wins. The Nigeria international scored match-winners against West Ham United, Liverpool and Southampton, giving Forest nine invaluable points.
In fact, in all but one of the matches Awoniyi has scored in, Forest have picked up points. The one loss was against Fulham and the 6ft centre-forward scored the opener in that game.
Cooper’s side have picked up 13 points in the games their No. 9 has scored in. They also picked up maximum points in the game he assisted in. Simply put, 47% of Forest’s points have been won in games Awoniyi has been involved in a goal.
If Forest stay up, Awoniyi’s goals will have played a significant role and his fee will look like a relative bargain, all things considered. Few new arrivals have had the impact the 25-year-old has.
