Premier League new boys Nottingham Forest are closing in on a record £17.5m deal for Union Berlin striker Taiwo Awoniyi, reports Completesports.com.
Bundesliga club, RB Leipzig are also rumoured to be interested in the Nigerian international, but is thought to have set his heart on a move to the Premier League.
Awoniyi scored 20 goals and provided five assists in 42 appearances across all competitions for Union Berlin last season.
Nottingham Forest are preparing for life in English top-flight for the first time this century.
Steve Cooper’s side have at least £70m available to strengthen the squad this summer.
Awoniyi joined Liverpool in 2015 and had loan spells at six different clubs without making the breakthrough at Anfield.
He moved to Union Berlin on a permanent deal last summer after previously spending time on loan at the club.
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COMMENTS
A lot of players are sabotaging themselves by wanting to play in the premier league. I would understand if the team is playing in a uefa competition. He left a team that was in the europa league and is now joining a team that got promoted, and lets be real, that may get relegated.
Im a big advocate for Awoniyi watching him play. In the game union against eintracht the commentator said about Awoniyi ” Union in front in the 17th minute thanks to some ruthless and muscular center forward play.” When you see him about to score, he fights off defenders, pushes them off, cant be easily brought down. He is physical and athletic. He doesn’t rush his shot, shoot in a haste when he sees the opposition coming like some players do.
But this is neutral but mostly a bad move. Darwin Nunez didnt want to go to the premier league unless it was a top team, chose liverpool over man utd. Awoniyi let it be known he wanted to play in the premier league. Dennis left brugge for watford, and after one season the team got relegated again to the championship. A lot of buzz for Dennis to get picked up by west ham, villareal, everton, brentford, crystal palace and more. Forest may get relegated and the only good thing I could see from this is that teams have watched him play and would want him after one season with forest, thats why I said neutral. This is an investment because Awoniyi hasn’t been called up by the national team in a while, so the premier league is the stage for people to watch him. I can actually watch him more if he joins the premier league. When Dennis was scoring for watford he was getting called up, he left Germany because he said it was boring.
Thanks for using Dennis as an example, one of those clubs u mentioned will get him so for Awoniyi to choose Nothingham as a stepping stone isn’t bad. By the time he muscle out Vandyke, White, Maguire and co successfully, other clubs will come for him.
to me it’s right move….firstly, the number of audience that watched Premier league are far more than bundesliga…Awo is ready to advertise his potential to the whole world to see. Premiership is more competitive. He knows the task ahead, so, i’m pretty sure he’s more than ready…. besides, seeing him playing in the premiership, week in, week out, will make him more relevant in the super eagles as it looks like, we only concentrate on premier league stars more than other leagues.
@ Shuma, spot on with your comment. Nottingham Forest will likely be a mid table to fighting relegation team next season and that is a risky move by Awoniyi. His calculation maybe to use NF as a way to move to a better club in the EPL but this is not easy, he will need to work hard. A moove to Leipzig will have been a better option.
Nottingham Forest is a traditionally big English club like the big six. They have more Champions league trophies than Arsenal. They were a powerhouse in the 80s and Early 90s just like Liverpool. They might not return to those glory day just yet, but this a nice move for Awoniyi.
Well said Brodaman Ayphillydegreat. You are one of the few people who make me come here to comment on anything Nigerian football these days. Awoniyi is going to a club with history. Heaven bless Taiwo Awoniyi and all deserving Super Eagles players. Lolzzzz Za Za Za Zip!
Please spare us all this noise, after 23 years in the bottom league, all of a sudden they better than Arsenal, because they won champions league. Why didn’t they get promoted in the 23 years they were languishing in the bottom tier. Please compare the trophies they have had since establishment. Yes they might have had the name, but wrong move. Leipzig would have been a better choice
There’s no noise here, it’s a fact that they have more champions league than Arsenal. I’m a big Arsenal fan and yes Nottingham was once a powerhouse. We all wish Awoniyi all the best wherever he ends up. It may not be the best move to some and I won’t mind him playing for Leipzig, but the opportunity to prove himself in the premier league is not bad for his career. Dennis playing in the premier league last season rose his stock higher after underwhelming over the previous season. Even if Nottingham Forest will be relegated again playing in the Premier league is a no brainer any day anytime. By the way you don’t have to be intimidated by changing your name every time. Lmao!!
@Ayphili – Nna my brother, you sabi football history and pedigree jare. Nottingham Forest is much bigger club than Leipzig (in terms of European history). They also have a better publicity than Liepzig. Leipzig is more like a feeder or academy team for Bayern, Liverpool and other big clubs.
By the way, will even be a guaranteed starter for Leipzig. They play total-football with a lot of flair – not the style Awoniyi is accustomed to.
Awoniyi is much suited to the physicality of Premiership and I feel he’ll succeed. He’s relatively athletic, composed and strong – adaptation won’t be difficult.
With 12 to 15 goals this season, it’s possible a top-half or even big-six team will snatch him fast.
Premiership is the best destination for him.
*will he even be a guaranteed starter for Leipzig?*
“Leipzig is more like a feeder or academy team for Bayern, Liverpool and other big clubs…..” And please what clubs does Nottingham Forest feed…?
15 league goals. I commend your optimism. But I just quickly did a run-check on the players who have scored 12-15 league goals in the last 3 season, and nothing suggests it has helped them has get moves to a top 6 club. Chris Wood is still at now relegated Burnley, Raul Jimenez is still at Wolves and Calver-Lwin is still at Everton. This past season, the likes of Ivan Toney, Jarred bowen and Zaha fall into that bracket, till today, ive not heard any top 6 team queuing for them. Maybe that should give you an insight as to the trends and how EPL transfers work.
So why will you leave back to back UEFA team like Union and swap RB Leipzig for 2-3 years of relegation battle, only to end up at best in another bottom 10 EPL team…??
This is not 1978. Lets be sincere with ourselves here, Nottingham forest isnt a big club in 2022. It is a club that has just returned to the first division in over 2 decades and has 80% chance of returning to the 2nd division in its 1st season and 90% chance of return within 3 seasons. Aston villa too has been European Champions before, but no one sees them as a big club today. You cant Join Aston Villa today from Everton and claim you have joined a big club. Same thing for Nottingham Forest.
Dre – What if Nottingham finishes the season in top-half of the table or within European places (Conference league at least)? What if they repeat a similar feet as Leeds achieved two seasons ago? Also, with a great season, Awoniyi’s Liverpool background could help attract interest from bigger clubs. West Ham, Leicester or Aston Villa could come calling!
Meanwhile, i’m not implying that Leipzig is a terrible club – not at all. I use StarTimes, it offers me opportunity to watch most Bundesliga games. I watch Leipzig regularly and I feel Taiwo could struggle, unless the coach decides to play to his strength.
Wow, I love your optimism. I was expecting to also see “…what if Nottingham forest wins the EPL with Taiwo winning the golden boot and the PFA player of the year award…” in your least of what ifs that only seem to favour NF and not Leipzig since clearly, your bais lies with NF.
But as much as what ifs are part of life (even a 1:1 million chance is still a chance), but there are also trends and precedence, and the simple laws of mathematical probabilism tell us most of your what ifs are more likely to happen with a RB Leipzig than with a Nottingham forest (no disrespect to NF).
I have said enough on this, and I have also wished Taiwo all the best in his sojourn and his career.
But like I’ve said before, please bookmark this page, so that it will be easy to revisit in due to.
For the ‘1 million and oneth time’, I hope my premonitions on matters like these (which I have brought all my years of working with figures to judge) are wrong
I would have wished Taiwo be “fed to Bayern, Liverpool or other big clubs” by RB Leipzig, than for him to be attracting mid-table/relegation avoiding clubs like Aston Villa, Crystal palace etc after toiling at Nottingham.
Awoniyi is definitely a premier league material….. very strong on the ball with an excellent hold up play…… very skillful for a six foot plus striker……And very dangerous in the box 18…….We need more SE players testing themselves in higher leagues inorder to raise the standard of SE……not always running to Turkey in search of “Game time”……. Awoniyi please challenge yourself joor don’t mind what doubters will say…….The experience will be very good for you development as a player too……. Distinguish yourself like Dennis did and you will stay up even if Nottingham forest goes down.
This move seems risky but just like it’s previous transfer Awo might just prove me wrong..
He broke the transfer record, goals record at Union Berlin. Perhaps, his goals are the main reason for the elevation of Union to top 6 team and a Uefa team..
Now, Nottingham is about to make him their record transfer, I won’t be surprised if he delivers again..
Osi to Manutd or Chelsea is next..
It is only risky if he fails to perform at the EPL , otherwise it is a great move. I admire players who are willing to test themselves rather staying in their comfort zone. Most people forget that the likes of wolves, Brighton were relegated and are now established teams.
If he does well and his team is relegated ,there is usually a clause in their contract that makes it easy for other clubs to buy.Besides, this would most likely put in back to reckoning with the national team handlers. If he does really well osimhen position might be threatened.
Fabrizio Romano tweeted on it so I guess the rumours are true.
Wow, Wow, wow. This is a really risky move. I still dont understand what “distinguishing” Taiwo needs to go and distinguish in Nottingham forest that he has not done at Union Berlin and would not do in RB Leipzig and Champions league football.
Best case scenario for him at NF is that he stays in the EPL next season after battling relegation. Worst case scenario for him is that he gets relegated to the championship (80% of the times, teams coming to the EPL in the last 5 seasons have headed straight back down). The premier league is a crazily hard league. NF has only 70m to spend this summer, Everton which has spent close to 400m in 2 summers narrowly escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth.
Best case scenario for him at RB Leipzig is that he wins the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal or reaches the Q or S/finals of the UCL. Worst case scenario will be that RB Leipzig finishes in the UEFA Conference League at the end of the season.
The best move he will make from NF if he were to move on is to another bottom 10 or relegation battling EPL team. I dont see any of the top 6 teams purchasing Awoniyi from NF even if he scores 15 EPL goals. Whereas RB Leipzig has been known to transfer players to top clubs in the top 5 leagues from the likes of Naby Keita (Liverpool), Timo Werner (Chelsea), Upamecano (Bayern), Konate (Liverpool) and so on.
Maybe Im just being overtly pessimistic by I dont see how a move to Nottingham Forest helps Taiwo’s career. Like Etebo’s move to Stoke city in 2018, this to me is progressing in the wrong direction.
Dennis moved from a relegation battling FC Koln to Watford…a very horizontal move IMHO. Not from a back-to-back top 7 Bundesliga team to a 1st time in 2 decades EPL team destined for a relegation battle, going buy how things have panned out for teams from the championship in the last 5 seasons or thereabout. Hell Nottingham forest didnt even win the championship, they were a distant 4th place.
Its a no-brainer. RB Leipzig for Nottingham Forest….??? More like Bayern Munich for Norwich City. For all the goals the likes of Alexandre Mitrovic and Teemu Pukki have been scoring for Fulham/Serbia and Norwich/ Finland, not even West Ham Utd has inquired about their services.
Taiwo has is work cut out for the coming season. He should get prepared for the season of his life. After making a great name for himself at Union, he was just supposed to step up to a club that will lift his CV, to a club where he wouldnt labor to get scoring chances, not to one where he wouldnt have the quality of support that will lift his game.
At 24 or 25 years of age, Nottingham Forest is just not it. Not from playing in Europe with Union Berlin and firing them to another European place by the end of the season.
For every reason in the book, this is a downward move.
I wish him the best of luck, cos he will need plenty of it.
Follow who know who ROAD. Thanks Dr. Drey.
My mistake. l meant to say ‘ FOLLOW WHO KNOW ROAD.
Taiwo rather plays for union Berlin.I know or suppose it’s an error,does happen doesn’t it?ha
Dr. Drey I understand your point but you don’t wish for taiwo to go to Rb Leipzig and sit on the bench as they already have nkunku, y.poulsen and andre Silva in their ranks
It’s better for him to go to a club where a starting spot would be guaranteed
My brother, is relegation battling now the easy way out….? He needs to speak with Jay Jay Okocha and Alex Iwobi to know how much damage battling relegation does to a player mentally and career wise. Battling relegation was one of the factors that denied Okocha an AFOTY….not when his competitor was wrecking havoc on the Real Madrids of this world, in the champions league and winning trophies all season .
Andre Silva had a relatively underwhelming season and rumors have it that they might move him on. Yet, its clubs like Arsenal and Barcelona being rumored to be interested in him. That’s one advantage of a club like RB Leipzig. Have an underwhelming season at Nottingham Forest and see if anybody will look your way.
Poulsen is more like the Ahmed Musa of that team. He’s just there being the longest serving player and captain who has been around since when RB was a 3rd division team. Taiwo’s one season league goals haul is more than Poulsen has weighed in in 3 seasons as a fellow center forward.
Awoniyi is not a lazy player, in a team that will play in like 3 to 4 competitions in a season, the worst case scenario will be that he plays 25-30 matches all things being equal, and one thing is sure, the boy will score goals.
So once again, I wish him good luck. Its his career. He has his work cut out. But at 24, and having settled into a stable career rhythm, I expected more from him than settling for less. Hawuu, Nottingham Forest…?
Dr. Drey to be honest with you the German league still remain a farmers league which is only dominated by Bayern Munich, why do star players in the German league move to the epl or la liga after 1 or 2 seasons, the German league does not even command attention
And for you to say NF could be relegated next season I totally disagree with you bcos they play some beautiful brand of football that will suit taiwo and don’t forget how the humbled arsenal and trashed Leicester city they however narrowly lost to Liverpool in last seasons FA cup, don’t be surprised if they end up at the top 10 at the end of next season.
Alright then. All the best to him. I wish him the best of luck in his career. Its his anyways.
Kindly bookmark this page, so we can revisit this when the time comes.
Awoniyi is one player I like right from his U-17 years. I’m glad he’s progressing into one of Africa’s best strikers.
By the way, Nottingham has won two European Cups (Uefa Champions League) titles. So by pedigree, Awoniyi is actually signing for a big club – much bigger that Man City and Arsenal lol
@ Dr.Dre u be man wen Sabi…good write up brotherly
Stupid move! I noticed that most of Nigerian players always choose downtrodden when it is easier enough to forge ahead…
What a nonsense move because of your wife who wants to leave in England….
@Dr. Drey no one can challenge your cap in analysis and reasoning in terms of sport (football wise) in this forum, maybe in other aspects of sport or politics you may have a challenger. The next person is @deo which am still waiting on him to raise his voice on this issue.
Awoniyi leaving Union Berlin (UEFA TEAM in a league like German Bundleliga) to NF who got promoted to premier league as number 4 in championship is a wrong move. I wonder why super eagle players keep making this mistakes. Imagine ignoring a very big RB Leipzig? A champions league team.
Spare me the trash of NF winning European Cups before (that’s european cup 1978-79, 1979-80 and the European super cup 1979). All these was in the 70’s and 80’s, where was NF in the last 20 years? Which league where they playing in the last 20 years? And is funny how one brings the comparison with Arsenal and the now mighty Man City. Man City team C will beat NF first team hands down on a good day. Is a wrong move by Awoniyi, had it been he subscribe for RB Leipzig, he would have stand a chance of been Marked to a bigger team if he proves his worth. Ajax, Benfica, Porto and RB Leipzig are good in sending players to the big 4 teams in major leagues because them too are big clubs and every year champions league teams. I would have preferred he even stayed in UB and play in UEROPA league than go battle relegation with NF.
Mr. Marvelous,
I am sure Awoniyi and his team would not have resisted a reasonable offer from Leipzig if one was on the table and it trumps what Nottingham Forest would have offered (in terms of renumeration and expected game time).
Okocha, Odewingie and particularly Yakubu Aiyegbemi left their mark in the English Premier League despite playing for mid table clubs. Even Kanu had success with lowly Portsmouth by winning a most unlikely FA cup in an outfit that also paraded John Utaka.
It is a no brainer that if he works hard and fortune shines on him, Awoniyi might make a name for himself in Nottingham Forest as a deadly striker regardless of what happens to the club long-term.
Yakubu Aiyegbeni comes to mind: he had a mind-blowing season with Blackburn Rovers as the club were on their way out of the English Premier League and subsequently into oblivion. Aiyegbeni’s goals scoring exploits that season for doomed Blackburn Rovers found its way into English Premier League folklore and had Yakubu been younger, it is not unreasonable to speculate that another premier League side would have snapped him up after Rovers’ inescapable demise.
The English Premier League has far greater visibility than the German Bundasliga. It is the Mecca on world club football. So, if Awoniyi distinguishes himself there, then his career should not nosedive if Nottingham Forest gets relegated.
For me, Awoniyi should be playing in England. Being bought by Liverpool earlier in his career only to be sold after several loan moves conjures a sense of destiny. The English Premier League is where he belongs. He has all the qualities to be a huge success if applies himself.
Senegal’s Sadio Mane moved from Southampton to Liverpool. Who is to say Awoniyi cannot experience similar upward mobility in his career from Nottingham Forest?
And yes, on a sentimental level, playing for a club with a huge (historic) and rich domestic and continental background is something for Awoniyi to brag about to his family after his retirement.
For me, if Awoniyi trains hard,works hard, applies himself diligently and maintains the level of concentration that serves lions well in the Serengeti, then he will find success that will transcend the predicted gloomy fate of Nottingham Forest.
Well said Deo. Even Van Dijk moved from Southampton. Tottenham just signed Bissouma from Brighton. Kevin Philips may be heading to a bigger club as well. Awoniyi can follow the same trajectory. Everybody’s case may not necessarily be the same.
*he would have stand a chance of been MARKETED to a bigger team*
@Dr.Frey, lol Hawuuuu! Nottingham forest?
Ask whether awoniyi has some timbers he wants to go and cut in Nottingham forest.
Records signing unto £17.5m guy you worth more than that jooo.
Stay put in Germany and develop yourself the more or better still move to a higher grade club not Nottingham bush or forest.
Leave that forest for herdsmen and stay put in city.
Na igbo irumole (evil forest) this boy dey enter so o.
Make una start to go mountain top for am o
Make all of una no worry! Nottinghamm Forrest is good for him. By the time he shows some defenders pepper like Dennis did at the first half of the league last season, even if they go back to relegation, German clubs will come back for him, if premiership clubs no dey see road. He has never lack suitors in that league. @Awoniyi.. carry go jare. Make u just do your best that’s all.
Leipzig abi what’s the name of that club sef…why didnt lookman remain in the club?? not until when Lookman came to that club to got relegated last year…who knew him at leipzig?? we were not even clamouring for him to change nationality until we started seeing Lookman in the premiership. abeg welcome to Premiership jare Awo…