Taiwo Awoniyi: Nottingham Forest sign forward from Union Berlin for club-record fee in region of £17.5m

Nottingham Forest have signed Nigeria forward Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin for a club-record fee in the region of £17.5m, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

The 24-year-old joins Forest from the Bundesliga club on a five-year deal and becomes the newly-promoted Premier League side's first international signing of the summer.

"I'm very excited to be here at Nottingham Forest," Awoniyi said following his move to The City Ground.

"It's always been my dream to play in the Premier League and having spoken to Steve Cooper about our ambitions and looking at Forest, with its great history, it's a club that I want to be part of, Awoniyi stated.

Awoniyi had a six-year spell with Liverpool, which was spent out on loan at various clubs, prior to making the permanent move to German last summer. The Premier League runners-up will receive 10% of the fee paid by Forest due to a sell-on clause.

It is expected that Awoniyi will be the first of many signings this summer as the Forest owners back the club’s recruitment team to assemble squad capable of staying in the Premier League.

Awoniyi began his professional career at Liverpool, signing for the Merseyside club in 2015 before having loan spells at FSV Frankfurt, NEC, Mouscron, Gent and Mainz 05. He subsequently joined Union Berlin on loan during the 2020-21 season and made the move permanent last July.

Having represented Nigeria at U17s, U20s and U23s level, Awoniyi won the first of his three caps for the Nigeria national team against the Central African Republic in October 2021 and scored his first goal against Sudan in January at the Africa Cup of Nations.