Head coach of Nottingham Forest Steve Copper has explained the reason behind their decision to sign Nigeria international forward Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin on a record transfer fee.
Awoniyi was officially announced as a player of the club earlier today following the conclusion of his record breaking £17.3m move. He becomes the club’s first signing of the summer transfer window following their promotion to the English Premier League.
The fee that Forest paid for the Nigerian has dominated discussions with some pundits wondering if he is indeed worth that might owing to the fact that he only had one good season, which was last season.
Copper remained unfazed by the doubts explaining that they watched the Nigerian for a while before deciding to pay that much for the 24 year old, who has represented Nigeria at all levels from U17 to the senior national team.
“There’s been a lot of interest in Taiwo from other Premier League clubs, and other clubs across Europe, so we’re delighted that he’s chosen Nottingham Forest”, he told the official website of the club.
“Our recruitment and coaching teams have been monitoring his progress closely over the last few months. He’s a player who we really believe in and we look forward to him going on to fulfil his potential and become a top Premier League striker with Nottingham Forest”, he explained.