Taiwo Awoniyi Biography
Taiwo Micheal Awoniyi is a Nigerian professional football player who was born on August 12, 1997. He plays for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and for the Nigeria national team.
At a Coca-Cola football tournament in London in 2010, Awoniyi was chosen as the Most Valuable Player. Seyi Olofinjana saw how well he played in the game and asked him to join the Imperial Soccer Academy.
Club Career
Liverpool
In 2018, Awoniyi trained with Mouscron. Awoniyi signed with Liverpool on August 31, 2015, for a fee of about £400,000, but he was sent on loan to FSV Frankfurt right away.
Awoniyi played his first game for Frankfurt when he came on as a late replacement in a German Cup game against Hertha Berlin.
He played as a substitute in six league games before making his start against FC St. Pauli on February 19, 2016, for 89 minutes.
Frankfurt was relegated, and Awoniyi went back to Liverpool at the end of the season. On August 26, 2016, Dutch team NEC announced that Awoniyi had joined them on loan for the season.
He was set to join the team the following week, once the paperwork for his work permit was finished. On September 10, he played his first game in the Eredivisie, which was a 4–0 loss for NEC to PSV Eindhoven.
Michael Heinloth came on in the 72nd minute to replace him. The Nigerian was dropped from the Eredivisie for the second time in a row with NEC in 2017. Loans to Gent and Mouscron.
Awoniyi left NEC in July 2017 and went on loan to play for Royal Excel Mouscron in Belgium for the season. He made his debut on August 12, 2017, when he started the game against KSC Lokeren and scored within 22 minutes.
On July 17, 2018, Awoniyi signed a new long-term deal with Liverpool. On July 23, he also locked down a loan deal with Gent for the season.Awoniyi’s loan to Gent was cut short on January 11, 2019, and he was sent back to Mouscron on loan. In April, he said that his trouble getting a work permit in the UK could mean the end of his time at Liverpool.
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Liverpool said on August 6, 2019, that Awoniyi had joined Mainz 05 on loan for the season. He was taken to the hospital in June 2020 after getting a serious concussion in a league game against FC Augsburg that ended in a 1-0 loss. Awoniyi went on his seventh loan move on September 19, 2020.
This time, he joined Bundesliga team Union Berlin for a year. Union Berlin. Awoniyi joined Union Berlin again on July 20, 2021, but this time for good. It is said that the German club paid £6.5 million for the forward. Liverpool worked out a 10% sell-on option for this deal.
Nottingham Forest
When Nottingham Forest moved up to the Premier League, Awoniyi signed a five-year deal with them on June 25, 2022. It was said that Forest paid a club record £17 million for the player. He got his first Premier League goal in a 1-0 win over West Ham United on August 14, 2022.
His goal gave his team a 1-0 win at home over his old team, Liverpool, on October 22, 2022. He scored six goals in four games near the end of the season. One of them was the game-winner in a 1-0 home win over Arsenal on May 20, 2023, which kept the club in the Premier League.
Awoniyi scored in six straight Premier League games for Forest on August 18, 2023. He was the first player since Stan Collymore in March and April 1995 to do so.
International Career
At the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Awoniyi played for Nigeria and scored four goals as his team won the title. After Nigeria won the 2015 African U-20 Championship in Senegal, he also played for Nigeria at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.
On April 12, 2015, Awoniyi scored two goals in his first game for the Nigeria under-23 team against Zambia. His team went on to qualify for the 2015 All African Games. Nigeria chose Awoniyi to be on their 35-person provisional team for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Gernot Rohr chose Awoniyi to play for Nigeria in their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in late 2021. He made his senior debut in a 1-0 loss to the Central African Republic. Then, Awoniyi was chosen to play for Nigeria in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. He led the line for his country the whole time. Only one of his goals came in a 3–1 win over Sudan in the group stage.
Taiwo Awoniyi Personal Life
My twin sister Taiwo Awoniyi is younger than me. Her name is Kehinde. He got engaged to Taiwo Jesudun and had a traditional wedding in Kabba on June 15, 2018. On June 16, 2018, they had a white wedding in Ilorin. Awoniyi is a Christian worker.