- Awoniyi had suffered the injury earlier during the 2023/24 Premier League season but he aggravated it playing for Nigeria against Lesotho in the 2026 World Cup qualifier
Nottingham Forest striker, Taiwo Awoniyi will not take part in the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) after undergoing surgery on a niggling groin injury.
Awoniyi had suffered the injury earlier during the 2023/24 Premier League season but he aggravated it playing for Nigeria against Lesotho in the 2026 World Cup qualifier.
The 26-year-old thereafter missed the Super Eagles’ second World Cup qualification game against Zimbabwe last Sunday as he went back to England to begin medical treatment.
Forest head coach, Steve Cooper, however, provided an update on the Nigerian striker on Thursday and confirmed that Awoniyi will be out for “months” because of the groin injury.
“It is bad news on Taiwo, he has had to have surgery and he is going to be out for months,” Cooper told the official website of Forest.
“We will support him and try to get him back as quick and as fit as he can be, but it is a really unfortunate situation and a blow for him.
“He has become an important player for us with the goals he has scored and the goals he will score for us but he is such a good guy and a good professional who is desperate to do well, so to get an injury like this is harsh on him.
“We have got to support him through the process of coming back stronger. He has done that once before here and I am sure he will give everything again like he did last time.
“You think about how well he did when he returned last season, I am sure that has given him a good reference point to come back to.
“We will definitely see him again this season, but it is groin surgery so it will take a little while.”
The Super Eagles have been drawn to face host nation, Ivory Coast in Group A of the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Nigeria will also do battle with two other countries, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea in the group stage of the tournament.
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