Former Nottingham Forest and England midfielder, Lewis McGugan, has revealed Taiwo Awoniyi’s reduced game time is a good thing for the striker and the club, Soccernet.ng reports.
Awoniyi joined Forest from Union Berlin in 2022, but his experience in the English Premier League has been rather bittersweet. The former Liverpool man undoubtedly gives his all whenever he’s on the pitch and has scored 16 goals and provided four assists in 53 English Premier League games for the Reds.
However, Taiwo’s biggest problem has been his availability. Since joining Forest at the start of the 2022/2023 season, the former Mainz 05 striker has missed 59 games for the two-time UEFA Champions League winners, virtually unavailable for 50% of Forest’s games in that time.
Since Nuno Espirito Santo replaced Steve Cooper as the tactician at City Ground, he’s preferred Kiwi striker, Chris Wood, and the Australian repaid the manager’s trust, scoring the third most goals in the English Premier League since the Portuguese manager joined.
McGugan, speaking on the Forest Focus Podcast, revealed Awoniyi sitting on the bench is a positive for his club and the striker as he’ll have enough time to heal from his groin problems while the club get to enjoy him when the time is right.
“I think when we look at it, we’re in such a good place with Chris Wood that it takes the pressure off of Taiwo Awoniyi. It takes the necessity off of us to potentially rush him back and run the risk of his body breaking down. I think that’s what we’ve had to do in the past, and it’s not done him any good, and it’s also not done the team any good to rush him back a little bit.
This with Wood allows him to continually build his body, continually allow him to get back to where he was before the injuries.
There will come a point where we need him [Awoniyi], Chris Wood is doing brilliantly right now, but there will come a point when we need Taiwo, and hopefully with his period now, when we do need him, he will be perfectly ready and he can come good again,” the former Watford midfielder said.
Awoniyi has played six League games this season, accruing just 93 minutes in total.