“Family club” – Super Eagles star Awoniyi thanks Bundesliga side for career rise

Super Eagles and Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi has thanked Bundesliga side Union Berlin for resurrecting his career, Afrik Foot reports.

The 28-year-old was on the radar of several top clubs after winning the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup with Nigeria, but he ended up joining Liverpool.

However, the move to Anfield didn’t quite work out for Awoniyi. While he wanted to break into the first team that would eventually hold Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah, he was sent on loan to several clubs.

The Forest striker went on loan to clubs in Belgium and the Netherlands before eventually finding a home in Germany.

Taiwo Awoniyi thanks Union Berlin for being a ‘family’

In 2019, Liverpool made it clear that Divock Origi was their backup striker, and as such, Awoniyi had to be sent out on loan again, this time to Mainz 05.

However, injuries curtailed his growth, and he scored just one goal in 12 games for the 05ers, although he was an understudy to Jean Philippe-Mateta at the time.

The following year, another loan spell followed, but this time, to Union Berlin, and he got more game time under Urs Fischer.

Awoniyi had gotten tired of loan spells and eventually joined Die Eisernen for €8.55m, and that season, he churned out the highest number of goals he’s scored in his career.

The one-time AFCON U-23 winner scored 15 league goals for Union Berlin, becoming the club’s record Bundesliga goalscorer, a feat that stands till this day.

His brilliance saw a newly-promoted Nottingham Forest side place a €20.5m bid for him, and since the goal was always to play for England, Awoniyi bade Union Berlin goodbye.

“When the opportunity came to join Forest, I was at Union Berlin, a fantastic club. It was quite similar to Forest; it was a family club,” the 10-cap Super Eagles star said in quotes from Nottingham Forest’s official website.

“They brought me from Liverpool and backed me, but I was ready to go and had my bag packed in Germany when I was coming back to England.

“I was so excited to see what the City Ground was all about. It motivated me to come back to the Premier League, and I’m so thankful I chose to join Forest,” Awoniyi concluded.

Despite spending 438 days on the sidelines due to injury since joining Nottingham Forest, Awoniyi has scored 21 goals and provided four assists in 98 games for the Reds.