Nottingham Forest struck gold when they signed this 5’10” marksman. Nottingham Forest and astute transfer transactions haven’t always gone hand in hand, with the Premier League club getting burnt in the market.
This was especially important during the previous season’s window, when Evangelos Marinakis spent his war chest of riches like a kid in a candy store, spoilt for choice and ending up buying anybody he could get his hands on.
Jesse Lingard, Jonjo Shelvey, and Andre Ayew were among the 30 recruits who came through the door, yet the most of them were a flop, scoring only two goals between them. However, the addition of three jewels, namely Taiwo Awoniyi, Orel Mangala, and Morgan Gibbs-White, rescued their season.
Awoniyi, the first of those trio, is the one who provides the dynamite in the final third, scoring double figures in the top tier and starting this season with three in six.
A deal to bring the Nigerian to the club has proven a fruitful piece of business and another sharpshooter who had a similar impact at the City Ground was the signing of Britt Assombalonga in 2014.
How much did Nottingham Forest pay for Britt Assombalonga?
The 5 foot 10 marksman began plying his trade at Watford in 2011 as a 19-year-old after graduating through the club’s academy, however, it would be a loan spell at Southend in the 2012/13 season that would see him christen the football league with his goals.
Assombalonga chalked up an impressive 15 strikes in League Two and that led to interest from several clubs with Peterborough winning the race for his signature, breaking their transfer record by shelling out £1.25m for the Englishman. After netting 33 goals in 58 appearances for Peterborough, proving himself a reliable presence in the lower tiers of English football, the prying hands of Nottingham Forest swooped in for the striker and took a chance on the 21-year-old in 2014, joining for a reported fee of just £5m alongside Michail Antonio.
How many goals did Assombalonga score for Forest?
A solid and reliable goalscorer in the lower echelons of the football league, Assombalonga would step up his goal-scoring prowess in the Championship, taking the mantle of being the main man through the middle.
Assombalonga’s power, pace and movement quickly propelled him to second-tier stardom as the sharpshooter conjured up an impressive 15 goals in 29 appearances in his first season, although his debut campaign at the City Ground would be cut short in February 2015.
After missing a year due to a knee injury, Assombalonga would make his full return in the 2016/17 season with a bang.
Former Bolton striker Craig Davies dubbed the Reds talisman a “outstanding player,” and he would go on to score 14 more goals for the club, but those consistent returns would only heighten interest in his services, as Middlesbrough broke their transfer record to sign him for a whopping £15 million in 2017.
While Assombalonga’s scoring pace would drop at Boro (47 goals in 161 games), the striker will be remembered on Trentside for his lethal finishing, which helped Forest make a 200% profit on their initial £5 million investment.
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