Liverpool’s determination to promote Taiwo Awoniyi for £6.5 million was seen as a masterstroke, however the Nigerian is now the Premier League‘s most medical striker.
Having spent six years on the books with no first-team look, with seven mortgage spells overseas as a UK work allow eluded him, Liverpool minimize ties with Awoniyi in 2021.
The striker joined Union Berlin on a everlasting deal, with the Reds banking a £6.1 million revenue which was boosted by an extra £1.5 million upon his transfer to Nottingham Forest in 2022.
Whereas that was seen as sensible enterprise, Awoniyi’s spectacular kind since debuting within the Premier League could have pressured a rethink.
Saturday noticed Awoniyi open the scoring in Forest’s 2-0 victory over West Ham, which was his sixteenth league objective for the membership and his seventeenth in all competitions.
“I am an enormous fan”@Carra23 and Jesse Marsch react to Taiwo Awoniyi’s efficiency towards West Ham ??? pic.twitter.com/NpEN5iwtvt
— Sky Sports activities Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 19, 2024
In evaluation for Sky Sports activities this week, it was revealed that, since his return to England, no striker within the Premier League has a greater conversion charge.
Awoniyi is scoring with 28.6 % of his photographs within the English prime flight, which is greater than Erling Haaland (26.1%), Hee-chan Hwang (24.1%), Callum Wilson (24%) and Harry Kane (23.1%) over the previous two seasons.
Diogo Jota (22.5%) is joint-sixth within the listing alongside Alexander Isak (22.5%), and the perfect amongst Liverpool gamers, whereas Ivan Toney (21.4%) is just not far behind.
Whereas Haaland, Wilson, Isak and Toney have all outscored Awoniyi in that point, it’s a massively spectacular statistic.
That’s significantly so given Forest completed sixteenth final season and are presently sixteenth once more this time period.
It raises the query of how the 26-year-old would fare if he joined one other membership greater up the Premier League – and positively if he was to have stayed at Liverpool.
Mockingly, Awoniyi had lastly been granted a UK work allow in the summertime he left for Union Berlin, which noticed him briefly be part of pre-season coaching underneath Jurgen Klopp.
However with Jota, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino all cemented as key gamers, and Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi not pushing for the exit, the pathway was blocked.
“What I discover most fascinating about it’s it’s not like Erling Haaland, the place he will get possibilities by bunches,” former Leeds supervisor Jesse Marsch famous within the Sky Sports activities studio.
“[Awoniyi] will get possibly two possibilities a match, and now he needs to be sharp and able to convert in these moments.
“It’s virtually like a goalkeeper taking part in for Man City, taking part in striker for Nottingham Forest, they’re not coming to you on a regular basis.
“However the truth that he’s prepared, that he’s in good spots – that’s what that [stat] is a measure of to me.”
