Nottingham Forest sign ex-Liverpool striker Taiwo Awoniyi | Soccer

According to German publication BZ Berlin, Awoniyi has already said goodbye to his Union teammates and is on his way to England to complete his medical treatment.

Forest are paying £17.5m for the Nigeria international, making him the club’s most expensive signing of all time, beating the £13.5m spent on Joao Carvalho in 2018.

Awoniyi started his senior career at Liverpool in 2015 but never played a single minute for the Reds, having been loaned out seven times to different clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

He was finally sold last summer and Union decided to re-sign him after a good loan spell last season, paying just under £6million for the 24-year-old.

The deal has worked reasonably well for Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp’s side will receive an additional £1.75m after inserting a 10% sales fee into Awoniyi’s contract.

Awoniyi scored an impressive 20 goals and provided five assists in 43 games for Union last season, helping the German club to a best-ever Bundesliga result of fifth place.

He also became the league’s sixth-top scorer, which is not a bad feat considering some of the names before him were Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland and Christopher Nkunku.

Forest need a new striker, with 34-year-old Lewis Grabban and Sam Surridge being the only natural forwards available to Steve Cooper, although he can also count on highly-rated attacking midfielder Brennan Johnson to score goals.

Meanwhile, Forest will also loan out Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson while Cooper prepares for the club’s first Premier League season in 23 years.

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