'It's been very difficult' - Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo issues 'positive' update on Taiwo Awoniyi after his horrific injury ordeal

The Forest striker collided with a post and suffered a ruptured intestine during his side's 2-2 draw with Leicester City last weekend at City Ground. The 27-year-old, who tried to play on but was in a lot of pain, required abdominal surgery on Tuesday, before eventually being put into an induced coma. Now, manager Espirito Santo says he is on the road to recovery but it has been a "difficult" period.

He told reporters: "Surgery went well, thank god. He's on observation now but I think he's recovering, we still have to wait for the doctors to allow visits. His family are there, we are concerned but we are positive. It's been very difficult on everybody, the concern about the injury that he had, the situation that he endured; it's been hard on us."

Espirito Santo added: "I hope that next week he can join us and be around, because he’s a wonderful boy. This season has been so hard on him so we just feel so sorry for him."

According to Forest team-mate Ola Aina, all of this could have been avoided if the linesman had raised their flag earlier, as Antony Elanga was offside in the build-up to the incident. Although football protocols, dating back to 2020, instruct officials to delay the flag unless they are 100 per cent certain a player is offside, injuries such as this may lead to a rethink of that arrangement.

While it remains to be seen how long Awoniyi will be out injured for, his Forest side, who are chasing Champions League football, are away at West Ham on Sunday.