West Ham ready to splash £25m to sign Bundesliga goal machine Taiwo Awoniyi
West Ham are in hot pursuit of Union Berlin centre-forward Taiwo Awoniyi and are ready to pay £25million to sign him, according to Goal.
The football news website reports that Southampton and Newcastle are also in the hunt to sign the 24-year-old Nigeria international, who left Liverpool to join Union Berlin permanently last summer.
It is understood that due to a sell-on clause, 10 per cent of what any club pays for Awoniyi goes to Liverpool, meaning that if the Hammers do pay £25million for the striker, £2.5million will head to Anfield.
“Goal machine“
Awoniyi has been in superb form since initially joining Union Berlin on loan from Liverpool in 2020.
He helped keep the Germany capital club in the Bundesliga last season with five goals and four assists in 22 appearances across all competitions before getting a muscle injury.
Since making his loan move to Berlin permanent, he’s gone on and scored 16 goals and supplied four assists in 35 appearances in both domestic and European football.
Awoniyi has scored against Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Monchengladbach and RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, netted against Feyenoord in the Europa Conference League and even scored his first goal for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
Journalist James Nalton, who writes for Forbes, MLS and Guardian US dubbed Awoniyi as a “goal machine” in an article for the Morning Star.
According to Goal, his recent caps for Nigeria boost his chances of getting a work permit to play in the UK – something he never had at Liverpool – and West Ham’s need for a new striker speaks for itself.
Watch this space.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers have been told by a pundit to sign this Premier League striker.
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