Premier League leaders Liverpool sent Taiwo Awoniyi out on loan to Jurgen Klopp’s former employers Mainz 05.
Taiwo Awoniyi believes he could still have a future at Liverpool. Speaking to Sporting Life, the highly-rated striker claims to have been told that he is considered an ‘amazing talent’ at Anfield before we was farmed out on loan to Bundesliga outfit Mainz.
The young Nigerian was a man in demand after scoring 14 times during a temporary spell at Royal Mouscron in Belgium last season.
But Liverpool never had any plans to cash in on a player who, according to the Echo, was valued at £10 million after scoring goals for fun in the Jupiler League.
According to the man himself, Liverpool still have high hopes for a striker who joined The Reds from the Imperial Academy in Nigeria four years ago, although his chances of a future at the Champions League winners depend largely on whether he will be finally awarded a work permit.
“For me, Jurgen Klopp is the best coach so far that I have met in my career,” Awoniyi said, claiming that he was in Liverpool’s pre-season plans before an ill-timed injury.
“I went to Mainz because it was where Klopp started. He said ‘Taiwo you can go there and make it your home’. He said hopefully I would get my chance there and that maybe in the next one or two years the work permit is given I could come back.
“This past summer they had the best opportunity to sell me to another club permanently because they had a lot of clubs that showed interest in me.
“But then they said they were not selling because they said they don’t need to sell me and that I am an amazing talent that could still blossom. This was the reason they kept me.”
Awoniyi has endured a slow start to life at Mainz, however, playing just 29 minutes of football so far and giving away a penalty on his debut during a 3-0 thrashing at Freiburg. The 22-year-old has since been left on the bench for each of the last two Bundesliga fixtures.
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