After Nottingham Forest talks, £10m striker has 7 goals in just 6 starts

Follow us on Google Discover

Football, as they say, is a game of the finest margins. Steve Cooper’s Nottingham Forest found that out the hard way during Monday’s 4-0 humbling at Midland rivals Leicester City; a result that dropped the play-off champions to the bottom of the Premier League table. 

With 22 minutes on the clock at the King Power Stadium, Taiwo Awoniyi latched onto a defence-splitting through ball and raced towards Danny Ward’s goal. With the net at his mercy, the £17 million summer signing from Union Berlin watched on in agony his slide-rule shot clipped the base of the Leicester post. 

Seconds later, the inspirational James Maddison fired the hosts in front. Fine margins. A sliding doors moment. Whatever you want to call it, this was a brutal reminder of the Premier League’s mercilessness. 

Nottingham Forest held talks with Ukraine striker Artem Dovbyk

Whether Artem Dovbyk would have put that chance away – or, for that matter, the one Awoniyi fired straight at Ward in the second half – is merely hypothetical. But, after holding talks with the £10m-rated Dovbyk before the transfer window closed on September 1^st, the Ukraine international is wasting no time showing Cooper and co what they are missing (SportArena). 

The 6ft 2ins powerhouse now has seven goals in his last six starts for club and country. After netting twice in an all-but unstoppable display against Armenia in the UEFA Nations League, Dovbyk then put his Dnipro side one point closer to the Conference League knockout stages with another well-taken finish against Swiss outfit FC Vaduz on Thursday night.

Dovbyk netted 14 times in 2021/22, despite playing just 18 matches. He’s comfortably on track to match or even overcome that tally just weeks into the new campaign.

With the window closed until January, Cooper will be hoping that one of his current forwards can emulate Dovbyk’s flying form and christen that new three-year contract in style against Aston Villa on Monday. Awoniyi can certainly go a long way to justifying that £17 million price-tag; righting the wrongs of Leicester when Steven Gerrard’s side come to town.