Coventry Targets Taiwo Awoniyi for Premier League Ambitions

Coventry’s intent could hardly be louder. According to The Athletic, the newly-promoted club are finalising a deal to sign Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi, a move that underlines just how serious the Sky Blues are about staying in the Premier League – and not just making up the numbers.

Awoniyi era ends at Forest

Awoniyi’s time at the City Ground has been short, chaotic, and unforgettable.

Forest paid a then-club record £17.2m to prise him from Union Berlin in the summer of 2022, handing the Nigeria international a five-year contract and the responsibility of leading their attack on top-flight return. He responded with goals that carried weight.

He struck when the lights were brightest. Winners against Liverpool and Arsenal turned him into a cult hero almost overnight, and he closed the 2022-23 league campaign with 10 goals in 27 appearances. Those contributions didn’t just pad a stat sheet; they helped keep Steve Cooper’s side in the division.

That became his calling card at Forest: when the stakes rose, Awoniyi often found a way to tilt the game.

Clutch moments, limited minutes

The story shifted last season. The goals did not vanish, but the minutes did.

Injuries and competition clipped his wings. Awoniyi made only 18 appearances in all competitions, starting just three times in the Premier League. Yet whenever he was thrown on, the sense lingered that something might happen.

At Stamford Bridge last May, it did. Awoniyi tore into Chelsea with a match-winning performance, scoring twice and adding an assist in a 3-1 victory that stunned the home crowd. Later, he found the net again in a crucial 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, another result that nudged Forest away from danger.

He began the 2023-24 campaign on fire, with three goals in his first three league matches. Then came two significant injury lay-offs. Momentum disappeared. By the time he returned, Nuno Espirito Santo had settled on Chris Wood and Igor Jesus as his preferred options up front. Awoniyi slipped down the pecking order and never fully climbed back.

So he leaves Forest with a modest appearance count, but a catalogue of moments that will be remembered far longer than the raw numbers.

A new chapter for a well-travelled striker

For Awoniyi, Coventry represents another turn in a winding journey across European football.

He spent six years on Liverpool’s books without making a senior appearance, shuttled through a series of loans, and finally found stability at Union Berlin in 2021. That breakthrough season in the Bundesliga paved the way to Forest, where he proved he could deliver in the Premier League when fit.

Now, at 29, he walks into a different kind of challenge: leading the line for a club returning to the top flight after a 25-year absence, with all the pressure and romance that entails.

Coventry smash ceiling again

Coventry’s pursuit of Awoniyi fits a clear pattern. This is a club attacking their Premier League return with the aggression of a side determined not to be a one-season guest.

They have already broken their transfer record three times this summer. The latest headline deal brought in Nordsjaelland midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi for a fee that surpassed the £22.5m they paid earlier in the window for Brighton goalkeeper Carl Rushworth.

Frank Lampard has been backed heavily. The spine of his team is being rebuilt with Premier League survival – and more – in mind.

At the back, Coventry have spent £17m on centre-back Aurele Amenda from Eintracht Frankfurt, adding power and presence in a key area. With Awoniyi now targeted to spearhead the attack, the shape of Lampard’s first-choice XI is starting to come into focus.

A statement before Arsenal

All of this investment arrives with the clock ticking. Coventry’s first game back in the Premier League is as brutal as it gets: a trip to reigning champions Arsenal on 21 August.

By then, Lampard will hope to have Awoniyi fit, firing, and fully integrated, ready to give Coventry a focal point capable of unsettling elite defences. For Forest, it would mean turning the page on a forward whose best moments came when the club needed them most.

For Coventry, it raises a sharper question: with this level of ambition, are they just here to survive – or to change the shape of the Premier League landscape they’re stepping back into?