Taiwo Awoniyi; Finds Home at Union Berlin

Since joining Liverpool in 2015, he had been on several loan spells at various European clubs, which includes FSV Frankfurt, NEC Nijmegen, Royal Excel Mouscron (twice), KAA Gent, FSV Mainz 05 and most recently, Union Berlin. Taiwo Awoniyi may have finally found home with The Iron Ones. In his last exploit for the club, he scored the two goals that ensured his club took all three points in the 2-1 victory over Mainz last weekend. Little wonder he was also named in the Bundesliga Player of the Week. As an icing on the cake, the former U-17 World Cup winner on Thursday achieved his long-time ambition of playing for the Super Eagles after an invite for Nigeria’s two-legged 2022 World Cup qualifier against Central African Republic

With his dream to play for Liverpool not coming to fruition owing to work permit and failure to convince The Reds Manager Jurgen Klopp, Taiwo Awoniyi secured a permanent move to Union Berlin at the beginning of this season after seven loan spells with several European clubs and he seems to have at last found home with the Bundesliga side.

The 24-year-old was the match hero for The Iron Ones in their Bundesliga clash last Sunday after his brace against former club-Mainz ensured Union Berlin ran away with all three points. That performance took his goals tally to eight in 12 matches.

His scintillating form was indeed not lost to Super Eagles Manager, Gernot Rohr, as
Awoniyi finally fulfilled his long-time dream of playing for Nigeria’s senior national team having represented Nigeria at every age group team aside from the senior national team.

On Thursday, he completed the selection against Central African Republic after he received a call-up to the Super Eagles squad for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Les Fauves which the Eagles were defeated in Lagos.

Awoniyi has been in brilliant form this season following his permanent move from Liverpool to Union Berlin in the summer.
The former Gent striker has scored eight goals in 12 games for Urs Fischer’s men this season, including a brace in the 2-1 win against his former club Mainz last Sunday.

But despite his brilliant start to the season, he was not included in Nigeria’s squad for last month qualifiers, while his name was also missing in the initial squad released last week for the Central African Republic encounter.

However, he was called up as a replacement for Terem Moffi, who picked up an injury in Lorient’s 1-1 draw against Clermont Foot.
Awoniyi has attributed his recent national team call-up to hard work and dedication.
“It’s hard work and dedication but for me, sometimes you work hard and don’t see the result but just keep on working, be patient and God will do the rest. I’m very happy to be part of the Super Eagles.

“For me, it’s every player’s dream. Every player will be happy to be part of the Super Eagles and in one of them.
“It’s a privilege and honour for me to be part of the team which I’m very happy about,” Awoniyi said on Brila FM.
The Super Eagles hosted Les Fauves on Thursday, October 7 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium before taking a trip to Douala for the second leg.

The Nigerian forward is occupying the upper section of the Bundesliga, scoring right behind Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland, and Patrik Schick after his latest exploits punished one of his former suitors.
FSV Mainz sporting director, Christian Heidel has voiced his frustration at missing out on the signing of Awoniyi after the 24-year-old struck twice to hand Mainz their first home defeat of the Bundesliga campaign.
Awoniyi spent the 2019/20 season on loan at Mainz from Liverpool, but the 05ers sent him back to Anfield after finding the back of the net once in 12 league matches.

After another loan spell at Union Berlin, Liverpool were willing to offload the former Golden Eaglets star this summer.
Heidel has confessed that they were among those who negotiated with Liverpool to sign Awoniyi. Still, they could not convince the Anfield giants to reduce the asking price for the former Gent man.

“I’ve always liked him, as you have seen, rightly,” Heidel said about Awoniyi, as per Rheinfalz.
“He was on the market, but we couldn’t finance the deal. We talked about him, but I didn’t get a discount.”
Union Berlin won the race for Awoniyi’s signature, completing a club-record €6.5 million deal for the Nigerian forward in July.
The former FSV Frankfurt loanee has been in spectacular form since, scoring eight goals and notching two assists in 12 matches across all competitions.

The latest two of those goals came in four second-half minutes at Mainz last Sunday, which helped Union Berlin come from a goal down to win two-one, and ensured
The Iron Ones’ third victory in a row while it forced Mainz to their first home defeat in the Bundesliga in a manner that hurts the coach of the 05ers, Bo Svensson.

“Everyone knows Taiwo’s strengths,” Svensson said.
“The two goals we conceded were gifts from us. Unfortunately, that decided the game.”
Meanwhile, Awoniyi has been named in the German Bundesliga Team of The Week for match day seven after his brace.
In a 4-3-3 formation, the Nigerian was paired with Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick and Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Breel Embolo. There was no space for Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski who failed to score as his side suffered a 2-1 loss to Frankfurt at the Allianz Arena.

In midfield, Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku, Cologne’s Ellyes Skhiri and Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz made the cut while Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro, Stuttgart’s Marc-Oliver Kempf, Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol and Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong were in defence.
Mönchengladbach’s Yann Sommer is in goal after an impressive performance in their 3-1 win over Wolfsburg.
Union Berlin manager Urs Fischer was full of praise for Awoniyi after the Nigerian striker delivered a man-of-the-match display to power the club to a brilliant comeback.

The first of Awoniyi’s brace sent him into the Union Berlin record books as the Iron Ones’ 100th Bundesliga goal.
Both goals showcased Awoniyi’s strength, poise, and finishing.
Aside from his goals, Awoniyi chased and troubled the Mainz defence all game, and his boss was pleased with his overall output.
“Taiwo ran a lot, was tireless and paid off today,” Fischer said after the encounter, as per Rheinpfalz.
“That’s how we want to see him.”

The club-record signing confessed after the match that he admires the equalising strike against Mainz.
“I particularly liked my first goal. The three points were important.”