It's signed and official. Free-spending Nottingham Forest have secured the signing of New Zealand international Chris Wood on an initial loan with an obligation to buy from Newcastle United.

With this, The Reds' search for a new man up top ends almost as quickly as it started, with star striker Taiwo Awoniyi falling victim to a 2-month injury to his groin that was sustained in a 1-0 win on the road against Southampton.

After losing their second-highest top scorer (behind Brennan Johnson), a quick stop-gap striker signing would have been a very expectable solution to the issue at hand, but Nottingham Forest are smarter than that. 

 Who is Chris Wood?

Auckland-born Chris Wood is a 31-year-old striker for t Newcastle United and the New Zealand national team, for who he has been capped 70 times and is the nations leading scorer with 33 goals.

He began his career in England in 2009, moving to West Bromwich Albion from Cambridge-based (not that one) side Waikato FC. He turned out 21 times for The Baggies, scoring once, before heading out on a number of successful loans, one of which being to Leicester City, who he joined permanently in 2013. 

After a mixed spell in the East Midlands that included a disappointing loan to Ipswich Town that ended early after his parent club brought him back to aid in the "Great Escape", Wood returned to the Championship to join Leeds United, where he hit fantastic scoring form and bagged 41 goals in 83 league games.

This then prompted a move to Premier League scrappers Burnley, who forked out an undisclosed club record fee to bring the big man to Turf Moor. He scored 49 goals in 144 top flight appearances for Sean Dyche's side, who left the relegation-threatened Clarets for fellow strugglers Newcastle United, who made Chris Wood the very first of a long line of investments under their new Saudi Arabian owners.

Wood scored 4 goals in 35 games for Newcastle, and is now on his way out to become the next man to lead the line for Steve Cooper and his men.

What can we expect?

Chris Wood is an elite level talent when it comes to his aerial ability. The big man offers up an aerial duel rate of around 4.7 wins per game. During his Burnley years, his strength and imposing size up front became a regular stream of goals for The Clarets, and something of that position is exactly what Steve Cooper needs in his team.

Cooper is a manager that likes to use physical strikers in his attack. In absence of Awoniyi at any point this season, that side of the game has been lost at times on the likes of Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White. What Awoniyi has yet to find in a red shirt, however, is a lethal touch in front of goal.

While his 5 goals for the club is enough to see him edged out only by Johnson (6) in the club scoring charts, his 7 big chances missed in all competitions spells a different story. While Awoniyi has a massive role to play for Forest with his pace and power, The Reds still need a more ruthless goalscorer in the attack, and Wood can very easily be just that.

The man who scored 10+ goals in four consecutive seasons at Burnley might not have hit those striking heights so recently in black and white, his quality in front of goal is still there for all to see. He may have only bagged 2 in 18 this season, but only 4 of those showings have come as a part of the starting eleven. Averaging only 26 minutes per game, he has scored 2 goals, missed 1 big chance and averages a shot on target for every other shot he takes. Those sorts of numbers spell very encouraging signs for Nottingham Forest.

Would Forest have brought Wood in if it wasn't for the injury to Awoniyi? Maybe not, but he brings a whole new dynamic to the Forest attack that wasn't there with Awoniyi, as good as he is and as surely missed for the next 2 months he will be.

Steve Cooper is a man who brought a whole new look on transfers to Nottingham Forest, and very nearly every single man he has brought through the door has had a big part to play and succeeded. Chris Wood, I am sure, will be no different. He might not have been everyone's first option, but he is a smart signing to bring in on loan to shake up the Reds attack and keep them firing all the way to potential survival.

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