Celtic and Rangers mustered 11 goals between them this weekend. Clearly, finding the back of the net is not a problem – at least domestically – for this pair of Old Firm giants.
And those 7-0 and 4-0 thrashing appear all the more impressive when you consider that neither Ange Postecoglou nor Giovanni van Bronckhorst could field their first-choice centre-forwards from the start.
Rangers’ talismanic Tonka truck of a number nine, Alfredo Morelos, will not kick a ball again in 2021/22 after a season-ending injury. Kyogo Furuhashi’s 16-minute cameo off the bench against St Johnstone on Saturday, meanwhile, was his first in the league since December.
As such, their failure to press ahead with a deal for Taiwo Awoniyi in 2021 – when the Nigeria international was still a Liverpool player – has flown somewhat under the radar. Unlike Awoniyi’s rapid-fire progress, that is.
A £25 million bargain?
Now valued in the region of £25 million, the powerhouse centre-forward has scored 17 goals this season over in Germany after all.
And it’s not as if he plies his trade for a Borussia Dortmund, a Bayer Leverkusen or a Bayern Munich either. Awoniyi – officially more prolific than Andre Silva, Serge Gnabry, Marco Reus and Alassane Plea – is the main reason why Union Berlin are just a couple of weeks away from qualifying for European competition for the second year in a row.
And it’s worth remembering that, before Awoniyi arrived from Liverpool in 2020, Hertha’s overachieving, coupon-busting neighbours had never even set foot on the continent before.
Though it would be a major surprise if Awoniyi sticks around to aid Union on their next European adventure. Especially with Goal claiming that Newcastle, West Ham and Southampton are all ready to test Union’s resolve with bids in the £20 million-plus bracket.
Back to the Premier League for Taiwo Awoniyi?
90Min reported some 14 months ago that Celtic and Rangers were ‘leading’ the chase to sign Awoniyi. Both clubs were reportedly monitoring his development in Germany closely.
Perhaps Steven Gerrard had hoped that his Anfield connections would give Rangers the edge over their Glasgow rivals.
These days, not even qualification for the Champions League group-stages – and all the riches that offers – would free up enough funds a deal for a striker who, in the space of just one year, has gone from little-known Liverpool loanee to one of Europe’s most coveted young strikers.
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