Ademola Lookman has been a revelation for Atletico since signing for the La Liga giants for a 30 million steal in January. The Nigerian forward has hit the ground running at the Wanda Metropolitano, scoring and assisting a goal on his debut, and it has only gotten better. A week later, Lookman was back with a goal against Barcelona in their 4 – 0 win in the semi-final first leg of the Copa Del Rey. Impressing with 6 goals and 6 assists so far, including the decisive goal to send Atletico to the Champions League semi-finals, Lookman’s start to life at Atletico is the stuff of dreams.
Lookman started his career at Charlton Athletic before earning a move to Everton, where he also scored on his debut against Manchester City. Before long, however, Lookman struggled at the club, part of which could be down to the constant shuffling of managers at Goodison Park. He was loaned out to Leipzig at the start of the 2018 season, and after a fairly successful spell in Germany, Leipzig snapped him up on a permanent deal. Life at Leipzig was far from perfect in his first full season with the club, making only one appearance before loan spells back to the Premier League.
Lookman initially joined Fulham on loan before joining Leicester City in the following season. At Leicester, head coach Brendan Rodgers praised Lookman’s dedication even while barely featuring in the first eleven. “He would be out with a bag of balls, doing shooting exercises long after other ones had gone in, working on his right foot, left foot.” “He’s so balanced. Everything is geared towards being the best he can,” Rodgers said.
His dedication would eventually pay off after signing permanently for Serie A side Atlanta. Donning the blue and black colors of Bergamo, Lookman ended up bagging 73 goal contributions in 135 matches. Three of those goals came in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen, where Lookman made history by becoming the first African player to score a hat-trick in a European final. In one of the best individual displays in football history, Lookman single-handedly ended Atlanta’s 61-year wait for a trophy.
As one would expect, big clubs came calling for Lookman’s signature; however, Atlanta found it hard to let go of their star forward. This led to a fallout with the club as the player insisted they had a gentleman’s agreement to let him leave if bigger clubs came calling. The club refused to let Lookman leave, turning down multiple offers for the versatile attacker, including one from league rivals Inter Milan. The first of the subsequent season was laced with tension and left a lot to be desired, with Lookman scoring just two goals.
In the winter transfer window, several clubs came calling again for Atlanta’s explosive attacker. With the very public fallout now beyond repair, Atlanta were forced to listen to offers for the Nigerian. Despite a mega salary offer from Turkish league giants Fenerbahce, Lookman opted to move to La Liga contenders Atletico Madrid, where things have kicked off to a perfect start, with Lookman racking up 6 goals and 4 assists in 17 appearances.
After his all-important goal at the Nou Camp, Diego Simone was full of praise for Lookman, stressing that the player still had more to give to the club. He said, “He’s brilliant offensively, he’s very courageous, and he’s very good in one-on-ones. Since I’ve been at the club, we’ve never had players with those features. We need more from him; he has more in his tank, and we’ve seen it in Nigeria. He’s always played great.” Lookman will be hoping to kick on and deliver even more results on the pitch, something Atletico fans would be looking forward to.
