Struggling to find the back of the net during the first half of the season when loaned to Gent, Taiwo Awoniyi appears to be a new man since he swapped loans in January, with Liverpool sending him back to Royal Excel Mouscron for the end of the campaign.
With four goals in his first five games there, the Nigeria U23 international is repaying the club’s trust in his ability, who saw all the potential he had to offer during his first spell there last year.
Hoping to get his work permit to be able to play in England in the near future, the Liverpool forward knows he needs to keep scoring to catch the attention of Gernot Rohr in order to get the caps needed with Nigeria.
However, there is a worry in Belgium that Awoniyi might not be ready for a step up, as HLN pointed out this week.
They explained: “At Gent, Awoniyi was confronted with the pressure of having to perform and with the competition there, which belongs to a top club. Freed from the pressure, the Nigerian proves he is a good striker, but he isn’t ready (yet) for the top mentally.”
That could be a worry for Liverpool going forward, but at only 21 years of age, the Reds’ youngster still has time on his side to mature and face these issues head on.
After all, he’s been playing against the same defences in the Jupiler Pro League for both sides, but never managed to find the back of the net for Gent in 19 league appearances.
Maybe they just weren’t using him properly? We’ll have to wait and see what happens next season to find out.
For now, however, he’s happy at Mouscron.
