Nottingham Forest are finalising the sale of striker Taiwo Awoniyi to Coventry City.

A deal is in place for Awoniyi, 29, to move to the newly-promoted Premier League club, pending him completing a medical.

The Nigeria international joined Forest on a five-year contract in a then club-record deal worth £17.2million (€20m;$23.3m) from Union Berlin in the summer of 2022.

He scored winning goals against Liverpool and Arsenal in the Premier League during his debut season and ended the 2022-23 campaign with 10 goals in 27 league appearances.

Awoniyi began the subsequent season with three goals in three matches, but later faced two lengthy spells out with injury, and has since struggled to establish himself as a starter for Forest, with Igor Jesus and Chris Wood, ahead of him in the pecking order.

Last season, he played just 18 times in all competitions, and started only three Premier League games. He still managed to record some important contributions, including two goals and an assist in a 3-1 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in May, and a goal in the 3-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur, which saw his side pull away from relegation threat.

Awoniyi has recorded 23 goals in 103 matches for Forest.

He was on the books of Liverpool for six years and had several loan spells before moving to Union Berlin permanently in 2021.

Coventry will play Premier League football for the first time in 25 years in 2026-27 and have broken their transfer record on three occasions this summer as they prepare for their return.

They completed the club-record signing of Nordsjaelland midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi in August, with the fee for the midfielder surpassing the £22.5million ($29.9m) paid to sign goalkeeper Carl Rushworth from Brighton & Hove Albion and the fee of around £17m ($22.9m) for centre-back Aurele Amenda from Eintracht Frankfurt.

Disrupted by injury, but ‘vital’ contributions

While injuries have limited his impact in more recent times, Awoniyi’s contribution at Nottingham Forest has been vital

The 10 goals the popular striker scored in 2022-2023 played a huge part in helping the club to retain their Premier League status in their first season back in the top-flight after promotion.

His most vital strike came in the 1-0 win over Arsenal that edged Forest towards safety in May 2023.

But he has started only six Premier League games over the last two seasons, partly because of some serious injury misfortune.

In May 2025, Awoniyi suffered a serious abdominal injury when he collided with a post in a game against Leicester City and was subsequently placed in an induced coma as part of his recovery process following surgery.

Awoniyi returned to the team in October 2025 and, in January this year, he scored his first Premier League goal since the injury, in a 2-0 away win at Brentford.

The 29-year-old has always been a hugely positive influence in the Forest dressing room.

But he has found himself down the pecking order at the City Ground and newly-appointed head coach Oliver Glasner is keen to see the club add more firepower to their attacking options before the window closes.

A move to Coventry would give Awoniyi the chance of regular first-team football — and would equip Frank Lampard’s side with a player with significant experience of how to survive in the top-flight.

Fifth one-day international, Stormont

Ireland 298-7 (50.0 overs): Campher 96 (84), Tector 53 (80); Azmatullah 3-74

Afghanistan 302-4 (48.5 overs): Rahmat 143* (133), Sediq 98 (112); McCarthy 3-47

Afghanistan won by six wickets and take five-game series 4-0

Scorecard

Afghanistan captain Rahmat Shah hit an unbeaten 143 at Stormont to help his side complete a 4-0 ODI series win over Ireland.

While the first of the five-match series was washed out, the visitors swept the remainder to cement their dominance over Ireland.

The visitors won by six wickets in this final match, surpassing their target of 299 with seven balls to spare after a slow start to their chase.

Rahmat, who hit 13 fours and two sixes, shared an Afghanistan record 201 for the third wicket with Sediq Atal, who made 98.

After winning the toss and opting to bowl, the visitors made an early breakthrough with Andrew Balbirnie gone for 13, before Ireland captain Paul Stirling fell for 20 after hitting four boundaries as Azmatullah Omarzai took the first two of his three wickets.

It was looking ominous for the hosts as AM Ghazanfar removed Cade Carmichael for 22 and Lorcan Tucker on seven, but Ireland would find a groove with the bat through Harry Tector and Curtis Campher.

Tector made 53 before being caught by Mohammad Saleem and Campher got into a flow with seven boundaries and four sixes, reaching 96 before being caught off the first ball of the final over.

In between, George Dockrell chipped in with 31 as Ireland posted 298-7.

The hosts put early pressure on Afghanistan as Liam McCarthy removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz (14) and Ibrahim Zadran for five as the visitors took just 30 off the 10-over powerplay, but Rahmat and Sediq would take over.

Their partnership laid a platform for Afghanistan but Sediq, two runs short of his century with seven fours and three sixes, was caught by Carmichael from McCarthy’s delivery with 76 required from 57 balls.

While Azmatullah chipped in with 24 before being removed by Jai Moondra, there was no answer to Rahmat, who sealed victory with a four.

CHICAGO — Matt Shaw, a young talent the Chicago Cubs did not move at the trade deadline while he recovered from a sprained left wrist, expects to begin a minor-league rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa in the coming days.

Shaw, 24, has not played in a major-league game since June 28, though his prospect pedigree and last year’s solid rookie season still could have made him a valuable trade chip at the Aug. 3 deadline.

Shaw reported no issues after hitting off the Trajekt pitching machine on Friday at Wrigley Field. The Cubs plan to have Shaw repeat those hitting sessions on Saturday and Sunday, then reassess the situation.

“Hopefully, if that all goes super smoothly,” Shaw said, “then Tuesday I’ll be rehabbing in Iowa.”

Shaw’s future in the organization became uncertain when the Cubs landed free agent Alex Bregman in January, signing the All-Star third baseman to a five-year, $175 million contract.

Another future opportunity for Shaw was blocked once Gold Glove second baseman Nico Hoerner signed a six-year, $141 million contract extension around Opening Day.

The recent emergence of young infielder Pedro Ramírez, first as a top prospect and then as a solid contributor for the major-league club, also could have made Shaw expendable.

However, Jed Hoyer’s front office found other ways to reinforce the pitching staff substantially. And Shaw, who’s scheduled to remain under club control through the 2031 season, including two more years at a pre-arbitration salary scale, could be a valuable role player down the stretch and an Opening Day corner outfielder next year.

“There’s still a lot of baseball left,” Shaw said.

With Shaw sidelined, the Cubs acquired Tyrone Taylor, a right-handed-hitting outfielder, as part of the Clay Holmes deal with the New York Mets. These return-to-play timelines are fluid with all of Chicago’s injured players.

Still, one date to circle is Aug. 31, when the Cubs are scheduled to begin a stretch of seven games in 10 days against the Milwaukee Brewers, the team they are chasing in the National League Central race.

“We’ll see,” Shaw said. “If I go and perform really well early on, then I’ll be able to show them that I’m ready. If it takes me a while to get the timing back, then that could be the case, too. But I’d love to be back for these Brewers series coming up.”

Shaw was a first-round pick in the 2023 draft from the University of Maryland. The Cubs handed Shaw the job after Bregman, a coveted free agent, turned down their offer during spring training ahead of the 2025 campaign.

Learning a new position on the fly, Shaw’s athleticism and work ethic turned him into a Gold Glove finalist at third base. After initially struggling to adjust to major-league pitching, he needed a reset at Iowa and eventually worked his way back to Chicago.

After last year’s All-Star break, Shaw hit 11 home runs across 63 games, posting an .839 OPS. He also performed well in a utility role earlier this season, producing a .737 OPS while shifting between the infield and the outfield. Still, his injury lingered longer than club officials initially anticipated.

“For a week or two, I just stopped trying to push it and I just kind of did the max I could do without any pain,” Shaw said. “And then after those two weeks, it started feeling a lot better. Before, it was like trying to stay under a 4 (level) of pain, so I was constantly pushing on it, and it just didn’t really feel better.

“Giving it that week-and-a-half of, ‘OK, I’m just going to stay pain-free, whatever that is, and work through that range,’ it started to feel a lot better.”