Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi is out of his induced coma and recovering well in hospital following urgent abdominal surgery.

The Forest striker suffered a ruptured intestine after colliding with a goalpost in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Leicester.

Awoniyi received lengthy treatment after the injury but then attempted to play on despite being in clear discomfort.

He was rushed to hospital on Monday evening after further investigations by Forest’s medical staff revealed just how serious his condition was.

The striker’s condition then worsened, which led to him being taken into surgery on Monday, after which he was put in his induced coma to help restrict his movement and regulate his heart rate.

“He went to surgery and surgery went well, thank God,” said head coach Nuno Espirito Santo at a press conference on Friday ahead of Forest’s trip to West Ham on Sunday.

“He is on observation now. He is recovering. We still have to wait for the doctors to allow visits. His family are there. We are concerned but we are positive.

“It has been very difficult on us and on everybody. The concern of the injury that he had, the situation that he went through. It has been hard on us.”

The club have been told that Awoniyi will be kept in hospital under observation for a minimum of five days, after which Nuno hopes he will be able to return to the training ground to see Forest’s players and staff.

“The information that we have is that he has to be there on observation for at least five days, [to check] that everything goes well,” he added.

“I will try to visit him as soon as possible, but he is in good hands and his family is there, which is what he really needs, the support of his family.

“The players are constantly chatting on the groups. We know that he is well, he just needs time.

“I hope that next week he can join us and be around. He is a wonderful boy. This season has been so hard on him, we feel so sorry.”

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis came on to the field to speak to Nuno after the Leicester game and the club later explained it was because of frustrations about Awoniyi being allowed to play on.

In a strongly-worded statement, Forest said: “The truth of the matter is there was no confrontation with Nuno or with others, either on the pitch or inside the stadium.

“There was only shared frustration between all of us that the medical team should never have allowed the player to continue.”

The offside controversy surrounding Awoniyi

The Awoniyi incident has reignited debate around football’s offside rules as Anthony Elanga – who provided the pass that the Forest striker strived to reach at the back post – was clearly in an offside position but was not flagged to bring play to a stop.

Assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis kept her flag down due to an IFAB rule which states that delaying the flag is only permissible in a very clear attacking situation when a player is about to score a goal or has a clear run into/towards the opponents’ penalty area.

PGMOL – which is in charge of the Premier League’s refereeing laws and uses IFAB’s directive when it comes to VAR protocol – is of the opinion that the assistant can raise the flag if they 100 per cent believe a player is offside. But if there is any element of doubt, they will keep the flag down.

Analysing the incident on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Dermot Gallagher said: “You see her [Massey-Ellis] explaining to the [Leicester] goalkeeper because even he queries why she hasn’t flagged.

“You can clearly see she says, ‘he’s not far enough offside, I have to hold my flag’. It’s not the law – it’s a directive.

“The law is offside but the directive to the assistants is, because we’ve got VAR, don’t put your flags up early. If he puts it in the net you can then go back and check.”

One of the benefits of that policy is to stop valid goals being wrongly ruled out by an early flag and help alleviate human error. It has been in place in the Premier League since 2021 and while incidents like Awoniyi’s are rare, the Forest striker’s injury has provoked a conversation on this ruling.

There have been calls around the Premier League for delaying the flag in obvious offside circumstances to be scrapped.

Speaking on Ref Watch, Stephen Warnock said: “Surely common sense has to kick into gear at some point.

“Common sense tells you: three or four yards, get your flag up and stop these things from happening. I’m not having a go at Sian Massey-Ellis, I’m talking about the rule-makers in general.

“If it’s two or three yards [offside] and something in your mind is thinking, ‘is it offside or isn’t it? I’m not so sure here’. Then keep your flag down, I understand that.

“But that? Just put your flag up.”

In December 2023, Manchester City defender John Stones picked up an injury during a phase of play that was later ruled out for offside, prompting an angry response from Pep Guardiola.

He said: “I don’t understand. It’s so clear, the offside, and now he is injured. They say, ‘you’re right Pep, you’re right’… but it’s late. It’s not them [the officials], the rules come from the big bosses. But I don’t understand.”

On the opening weekend of this season, when Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson went through on goal while clearly offside, Guardiola was seen remonstrating with the fourth official. Speaking on co-commentary, Gary Neville complained the process to flag him offside took “14 days”.

Again, speaking on Ref Watch this week, Warnock added: “We’re looking at [the Awoniyi incident] and going, ‘is that what we’ve been waiting for? For something to happen to change the rules?’

“Because we’ve all been saying it for years now where there could be a collision and the assistant referee says, ‘that was offside by the way’. We all knew it was, why haven’t you made that decision?”

Nuno: We can’t blame the referees

Nuno insisted the officials were only following guidelines by allowing play to continue after Elanga’s offside but said the guidance should be changed ahead of next season.

He said: “The law is like that. We cannot blame the referees for that. They followed the guidance. It’s clear offside, everybody knew. But the players and the referees have the instruction to play to the whistle, so unfortunately it happened.

“Since this law, there was immediately some concerns regarding this aspect, that serious things could happen. If there’s a red card after an offside, how can you control that?

“But they are aware. The law cannot changed now, so more than anything it’s about the guidance to the referees.

“When it’s so clear, lets try to avoid it.”