Steve Cooper, the manager of Nottingham Forest, announced on Thursday that forward Taiwo Awoniyi, who plays for the Premier League team, will be out for several months following groin surgery.

Awoniyi’s groyne injury worsened while he was playing for Nigeria during the international break this month.

The 26-year-old scored 15 goals in 39 games in all competitions for Forest in the previous two seasons after joining from Union Berlin in 2022 for a then-club record cost of 17 million pounds ($21.18 million).

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“It’s bad news on Taiwo, he’s had to have surgery and he is going to be out for months,” Cooper told reporters ahead of Forest’s home game against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

“He’s become an important player for us with the goals he’s scored and the goals he will score for us, but he’s 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’ve got to support him through the process of coming back stronger … We’ll definitely see him again this season, but it’s groin surgery so it will take a little while.”

Forest are 14th in the table with 13 points from 12 games.