Nottingham Forest 'in talks' as striker transfer takes serious twist
West Ham are reported to have opened talks with Nottingham Forest over a January deal for striker Taiwo Awoniyi.
No fee has been mentioned, but Sky are reporting that the Hammers are making a “serious attempt” to sign Awoniyi, the Nigeria international whose goals did so much to help keep Forest in the top-flight in their first two seasons after winning promotion.
The 27-year-old has had an injury-hit campaign for the Reds, but did score his first goal of the season in their 3-0 top-flight victory over Wolves last week. He also made a brief appearance from the bench on Tuesday night against former club Liverpool.
Sky reporter Florian Plettenberg took to X this morning to report: “West Ham are now making a serious attempt to sign Taiwo Awoniyi with immediate effect. Talks have started. The 27-year-old striker is currently under contract with Forest until 2027.”
Forest have made clear they will only contemplate selling Awoniyi if a replacement is brought in first, and they are understood to retain an interest in Santiago Giménez, Feyenoord’s Mexican striker who snubbed them in the summer.
Reacting to the news, Sky Sports’ Midlands reporter Danyal Khan said: “To be honest, it would make a lot of sense. We were talking about West Ham desperately needing a striker because of injuries to Niclas Füllkrug, and because Michail Antonio is out long-term.
“Talking of Awoniyi again, I saw Forest on Saturday against Luton (in the FA Cup ). He started that game, but looked like he needed more minutes to get up to speed. His touch was a bit off.
“Awoniyi was such an important player for this Forest side in the first two seasons after they were promoted from the Championship - essentially his goals helped keep them up. He scored some very important goals for them. But he had a really serious injury last season, and he hasn't been quite able to play consistently since then and really get up to match sharpness, and also because of the form of Chris Wood.
“But somewhere like West Ham, where he'll be able to play because there's a gap in that position, I think he could do well. He is a fantastic striker when he is on it and he just needs some game time, really.”
German striker Fullkrug was hurt during the Hammers' FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa on Friday - Graham Potter's first game as the new West Ham boss, and looks likely to be sidelined for a while. Former Forest striker Antonio was seriously injured in a car crash before Christmas.
