Nottingham Forest: The Reds struck gold with a signing that was worth 200% more.
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.
A whopping 30 signings arrived through the door and most turned out to be disastrous as Jesse Lingard, Jonjo Shelvey and Andre Ayew had a torrid time on Trentside – scoring just two between them. However, their season was saved by the signing of three gems, in particular, Taiwo Awoniyi, Orel Mangala and Morgan Gibbs-White.
The former of that trio, Awoniyi, is the one providing the dynamite in the final third, reaching double figures in the top flight and starting this campaign 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.
The Posh have made a practice of buying undervalued strikers, developing them into goal-scoring machines, and then selling them for great profits later on – Assombalonga would soon follow suit.
After netting 33 goals in 58 appearances for Peterborough, proving himself a reliable presence in the lower tiers of English football, Nottingham Forest swooped in for the striker in 2014, taking a chance on the 21-year-old alongside Michail Antonio for a reported fee of £5m.
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 pushed him to second-tier stardom in his first season, with the sharpshooter scoring 15 goals in 29 games, albeit his initial season at the City Ground was cut short in February 2015.
After being ruled out with a knee injury, keeping the forward out of action for a year, Assombalonga would mark his full return in the 2016/17 season with a bang.
Labelled as an “outstanding player” by former Bolton striker Craig Davies, the Reds talisman would go on to rack up a further 14 goals for the club, but those consistent returns would only heighten interest in his services, as Middlesbrough broke their transfer record and snapped him up for a whopping £15m in 2017.
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