Nottingham Forest will return to the Premier League next season, and Steve Cooper isn’t wasting any time in improving his squad’s chances of staying up as the Welsh manager is reportedly close to signing Taiwo Awoniyi.
As per reports, the Nigerian striker is set to sign for Forest for a club-record fee, marking the first major signing the City Ground side have made since being promoted to the Premier League, with many supporters and pundits applauding the move for Awoniyi.
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As Union Berlin’s top goalscorer in the past two seasons, signing Awoniyi could be key to Forest’s chances of survival next season. Yet if history is anything to go by, big-money transfers don’t always equal success with the Nottingham giants.
Indeed, as a side that has spent almost twenty years in the Championship, Forest have made some huge signings over the years, with most of them not going to plan ahead of Awoniyi’s pending arrival to the Premier League.
Joao Carvalho – £13.2m
Forest’s biggest signing by far and easily the club’s worst mistake so far in the transfer market, Joao Carvalho joined the then-Championship for a reported £13.2m, still one of the largest moves ever seen in the second-tier of English football.
Despite a huge price tag and a big reputation in Portugal, Carvalho was an utter flop with Forest, with the attacking midfielder only ever scoring eight goals for the club, with the 25-year-old now playing for Olympiacos in Greece.
Lewis Grabban – £6m
Lewis Grabban feels like he’s been at Forest longer than the club have existed in the Championship, yet as a £6m signing from AFC Bournemouth in 2018, the veteran striker has been brilliant for the Garibaldi.
56 goals in all competitions since arriving has been key to Forest’s remaining in the division, with Grabban’s 12 goals in the Championship last season huge in Cooper securing promotion back to the Premier League, where the 34-year-old will be hoping to feature.
Britt Assombalonga – £5.5m
After a 33-goal season with Peterborough United, Britt Assombalonga was quickly snapped up by Forest in 2014 for a then-record £5.5m, and the Watford academy graduate continued right from where he left off with the Posh.
30 goals in two full Championship seasons was enough to convince Middlesbrough to activate Assombalonga’s release clause, with the DR Congo international going on to flourish with the Riverside club before moving to Turkey last summer, where he has again enjoyed a double-digit goalscoring season.
Harry Arter – £5m
At the time, Harry Arter looked like a gem of a signing for Forest, with the midfielder a consistent performer for AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League and genuinely viewed as one of the good guys in the English footballing scene.
However, the Republic of Ireland international’s move to Forest didn’t go to plan, with the £5m signing joining city rivals Notts County this January in a shock loan move that puzzled many supporters from across the country.
Pierre van Hooijdonk – £4.5m
Quite incredibly Forest’s fifth most expensive signing before the signing of Awoniyi, Pierre van Hooijdonk’s £4.5m arrival to Forest 25 years ago remains one of the most expensive the club have ever made.
Joining from Celtic after ripping it up in the Scottish Premier Division and with NAC in Eredivisie, Van Hooijdonk joined Forest for a club record fee, with the Dutchman having a mixed spell with the club during his three seasons in England, though the striker’s 29 goals to get the Garibaldi bad to the Premier League in 1998 were huge, to say the least.
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