Coventry Targets Taiwo Awoniyi as Key Signing

Coventry’s statement of intent is about to get louder.

Nottingham Forest are close to agreeing the sale of striker Taiwo Awoniyi to the newly-promoted Premier League side, according to The Athletic, in a move that underlines just how aggressively the Sky Blues are attacking their top-flight return after 25 years away.

Frank Lampard has identified the 29-year-old Nigeria international as a cornerstone of his forward line. Coventry want goals, power and big-game nerve. Awoniyi’s CV at Forest ticks every box.

Forest’s clutch finisher moves on

Awoniyi arrived at the City Ground in the summer of 2022, a then-club record £17.2m signing from Union Berlin on a five-year deal. He didn’t take long to justify the outlay.

He became a terrace favourite almost instantly, his reputation forged not on volume of goals but on the weight of them. When Forest needed someone to drag them through the fire against the Premier League’s elite, it was often Awoniyi who stepped up.

His debut campaign in England’s top flight was laced with defining moments. He struck iconic winners against Liverpool and Arsenal, the kind of nights that rewire a club’s belief. By the end of the 2022-23 season he had 10 league goals in 27 appearances, a haul that played a central role in keeping Steve Cooper’s side in the division.

That knack for timing didn’t desert him even as his minutes shrank.

Reduced role, same impact

Last season, Awoniyi’s starting opportunities dried up, but his influence didn’t disappear. Used more as an impact option, he still found ways to bend games his way.

He featured just 18 times across all competitions, starting only three Premier League matches. Yet when Forest needed a performance at Stamford Bridge in May, he produced one of his finest. Two goals and an assist in a 3-1 win over Chelsea turned a difficult away trip into a statement result.

He scored again in a crucial 3-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur, another step that nudged Forest clear of the relegation scrap. The numbers may have dipped, the stakes rarely did.

His slide down the pecking order had clear roots. Awoniyi opened the 2023-24 campaign in sharp form, scoring three times in his first three matches, only for two significant injury setbacks to derail his rhythm. By the time he returned, the landscape had shifted. Chris Wood and Igor Jesus had climbed ahead of him in Nuno Espirito Santo’s attacking plans.

For Forest, the sale would close a brief but vivid chapter. For Awoniyi, it is another turn in a winding European journey.

A career built on persistence

The Nigerian forward spent six years on Liverpool’s books without making a senior appearance, shuffled through a series of loan spells across the continent. Only with his permanent move to Union Berlin in 2021 did he finally find a stable platform, using the Bundesliga stage to prove he could lead the line at a high level.

Forest gave him the Premier League. Now Coventry are preparing to hand him a new kind of responsibility: to spearhead a club trying to re-establish itself among the elite after a generation away.

And Coventry are not tiptoeing into this new world.

Coventry swing big in the market

Promotion has lit a fire under the Sky Blues’ recruitment. They have already broken their transfer record three times this summer, reshaping the squad with a clear Premier League blueprint in mind.

The pursuit of Awoniyi comes on the back of a record deal for Nordsjaelland midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi, a signing that surpassed the £22.5m spent earlier in the window on Brighton goalkeeper Carl Rushworth. The spine is being rebuilt with serious money and serious intent.

At the back, Coventry have moved decisively too, paying £17m to bring in centre-back Aurele Amenda from Eintracht Frankfurt. It is the kind of business that signals a club refusing to play the role of grateful guests.

All of this is being done with a brutal opening test looming. Coventry’s first game back in the Premier League is a trip to the home of the reigning champions, Arsenal, on August 21.

By then, they expect Taiwo Awoniyi to be wearing Sky Blue, leading the line in a season that will show whether this bold spending spree is the foundation of a new era – or the start of a fight for survival.