Ademola Lookman… Summer’s In-demand Asset for Football’s Big Spenders

Imagine like ten years ago, a soothsayer tells you a fortune that was written in the stars for a certain Wandsworth-born teenage footballer from Nigeria by the name of Ademola Lookman, who will one day, under the floodlights of a jam-packed stadia, steal the show in a finals match game in one of Europe’s top tier club competition and also go ahead to headline the news as hat trick hero and man of the match on that same night.

Some naysayers would have called that fallacy and would want to debunk such a belief with a strong basis.
If one were to backtrack to ten years behind, Ademola Lookman would only be seen as a player who was deemed then as an excess to requirement by some football clubs in Europe during his early career spell in football.

Lookman started as a boy growing up in Wandsworth, south London; he began his career playing for Waterloo FC between the ages of nine and 16 before moving to Charlton Athletic, Everton, RB Leipzig between 2015 and 2021. In January 2017, while plying his trade for Merseyside club Everton, he marked his Premier League debut from the bench with the final goal in the Toffees’ 4-0 victory against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

That was his only Premier League goal for the club, as he was restricted to just seven league starts in two seasons at Goodison Park.
Then came a six-month loan spell at RB Leipzig, followed by a permanent move to the Red Bull Arena in 2019.
After just one Bundesliga start and no league goals, Lookman was loaned out again, and he returned to London with Fulham.

He scored four times for the Cottagers as they were relegated from the Premier League under Scott Parker. He spent the 2021-22 season on loan with Leicester City, scoring eight goals and registering five assists in 42 games across all competitions as the Foxes finished eighth in the top flight.
RB Leipzig could sign him permanently for £14m ($18m) at the end of his temporary spell if they wanted but opted against triggering his release clause.

Across five and a half seasons, Lookman started 62 of his 118 league appearances. Remove his spell from Fulham, and that becomes 31, starting in 84.
Most football followers might still recall and find a clip of Lookman circulating on social media as a young lad when West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski quickly saved his cheekily attempted Panenka penalty.

Lookman has also won 21 caps and scored six goals for Nigeria, starting in the Super Eagles‘ 2-1 final defeat by Ivory Coast in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals match this year, having already dazzled spectators and Nigerian faithful with his thrilling and spectacular performance at the Mundial.

At the end of the tourney, Lookman clearly showed what a transformative player he has become via his performances.
Since Ademola Llokman’s move to Atalanta in 2022, he has played 76 matches and started 52.
“He’s been playing at that elite level, but the difference here is that he’s playing at a club that has some belief to continue to work with him and develop him and for him to strike up a relationship with them,”.
“Now he has fully established himself at that club, in that league, and he has put himself right up there now regarding his European achievements.”
Charlton Academy Director Steve Avory said.

In May, Ademola Lookman stepped into the spotlight and fully embraced his moment of glory: The boy from Wandsworth started in the finals game against the Bundesliga champions, and indeed, Lookman did run riot.
He brought glory to the symbolic Goddess LaDea by helping Atalanta win the Europa League, having scored a stunning hat-trick that fired the club to their first silverware since 1963, not forgetting putting an end to Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten season with that Europa League final encounter.
The winger has exploded in Italy and scored 15 goals in 2023-24 while also providing eight assists.

He, first of all, stole in at the back post for the opener, bent the ball into the bottom corner with his right foot for the second, then rifled home into the top-right corner with his left to complete the first hat-trick in a major European final since Jupp Heynckes for Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1975 Uefa Cup.

Then what happened next? Lookman became a high-demand commodity, attracting interest from several English clubs, according to The Times. Premier League clubs started hovering around even before the summer transfer window. Following that Europa League final hat trick for Atalanta, with the minor benchmark, the cost was pegged at £30 million ($38m).

One of his coaches, Oliver Reynolds, said he saw the “Lookman of old” against Leverkusen.
“I woke up this morning and just said, ‘pinch me because I’m pretty sure that was a dream’ – we loved every minute of it,” he said.
“But, man, it was written in the stars for Ademola Lookman.”
His performance will likely continue to spark additional transfer rumors during this transfer window. The Sporting News looks at his contract status with Atalanta and how much the Serie A side paid to sign him.

Transfer rumors around Lookman will likely keep exploding after his Europa League performance, although he has already been linked with some major clubs.
In February,  Juventus and Atletico Madrid were credited with interest. Lookman’s form for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations is rumored to have impressed the Italian and Spanish giants. Lookman could be at the center of a bidding war this summer, but there is no indication yet of which clubs are circling. Atalanta may well be able to turn a significant profit on the winger this summer.

Looking at the bigger picture in the future can only drive some to ask the million-dollar question: WHAT NEXT? The answer to that is easy: Lookman could be at the center of a bidding war this summer, but there is no hint yet as to which clubs are circling. Atalanta may turn a significant profit on the winger this summer.

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