Ademola Lookman Home at Last

Call him a journeyman, and one would be right. In his short career, Super Eagles forward, Ademola Lookman has journeyed between seven clubs at the top flight, with two foreign missionary journeys inclusive- Germany and Italy. However, the Nigerian seems to have found a home in Bergamo since moving to Atalanta, in the Serie A. Just last week, his 13th goal of the season makes him the first Atalanta player to score 13 goals in his first season with club in 70 years    

Ademola Lookman ended his goals drought last weekend when  he scored the third goal in Atalanta’s 3-1 defeat of Cremonese to take his tally in the Serie A to 13 in 27 league appearances, smashing Atalanta’s record of 70 years.

Lookman is the first Atalanta player in 70 years to score 13 goals in his debut season.

Stats platform Opta released a statement that the Nigerian international becomes the first Atalanta player to score 13 goals in his first Serie A season since Poul Rasmussen in 1952/1953.

With last Saturday’s goal against Cremonese, Lookman became the rookie to have scored the most in this league.

When asked how he is dealing with loneliness that comes with being a player in a foreign country, Lookman replied, “That’s a really tough one. I think trying to speak and communicate as much as you can with family, whether that’s on FaceTime on the phone, or texting.”

Lookman was no stranger playing abroad before in his career; he spent two years in Germany as he was still plying his trade at RB Leipzig. But during his spell with the German outfit, he wasn’t playing the desired game time he believed was needed for his development. He only appeared for the club 22 times in a two-year span, a tally he has overtaken this season for Atalanta.

“I just want to be playing because that’s where I get my joy from.”

Despite the isolation he may be feeling off the pitch, that clearly hasn’t seeped into his performances on the pitch. In fact, Lookman being placed outside his comfort zones globally has probably enhanced his focus on his game, and that focus has rewarded him in abundance.

It’s safe to say that Lookman has enjoyed his time in Bergamo so far. Arriving at the club in the summer, after being unable to secure a move to his loanee club the season before, Leicester, the expectations for the 25-year-old were not high. Despite impressing during his time at Leicester, the lack of willingness of the club to loosen the purse strings showed the value (or the lack of) they placed on getting him into the club permanently. But that didn’t deter Atalanta from moving for his services.

Lookman’s talent has never been in doubt. His ability to cause pure chaos to any defensive line is spellbinding in itself. But, in the modern game, football fans consume the product and analyse the players within that product; there is more emphasis on the numbers that a forward contributes to, and that has been a point of criticism in Lookman’s game, a weakness he has refined-20 goal involvements (15 goals and five assists) so far is the most productive he has been in his career, with much of the season to play.

He arrived in Italy as a boy and has become a man. At 25, Lookman may be breaking through later than expected; his come-up has been incredible — and it seems he is only getting started.

Born and raised in Greater London, Lookman was socialised at the heart of the capital. As a child of Nigerian parents, the motivation put on him was to succeed in school at foremost -so he did. During his time at school, Lookman achieved three A*s and five As at GCSE, and despite his academic superiority, his future lay on the pitch and not off it.

Charlton saw the potential early and took him into their academy. His goal-scoring record for Charlton’s U18 and U21 teams propelled him through the Charlton academy ranks quickly, and he made his first-team debut for the Addicks in 2015 and scored his first goal for the club a month later against Brighton & Hove Albion.

The young winger would make 45 senior appearances for the club, scoring 10 goals and providing a further five assists leaving the club as one of the more prominent talents in the English football league, a talent that would attract Everton.

Lookman would join an Everton side in January for a fee of around £11 million, a side being led by the admirable but dwindling persona of Ronald Koeman.

Lookman’s lack of adaptability to life in Merseyside and the constant flipping of managers meant a loan was needed for his development to continue on the right trajectory.

The need for first-team football was imperative for Lookman, and he saw Leipzig as the ideal place. He didn’t play much, but when he did, he impressed. Scoring five goals in 11 league appearances showed efficiency. It started to be a trademark of the attacker, scoring on his debut for RB Leipzig, the winner, in fact, in the away game against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Leipzig was impressed with what they saw from Lookman, even if it was brief. And in the summer of 2019, they went back in for a player to make a move permanently.

Leipzig paid €25.5 million for Lookman’s services. The winger showed what he could offer in his temporary loan spell; his pace, versatility and ingenuity in and around the opposition box seemed a perfect match for the directness and perfect chaos of Timo Werner and the target man figure of Yussuf Poulsen.

Germany was however a setback in Ademola’s development. He was lost as a footballer and as a person. So, he went home. Lookman’s return to London would see him be part of a very limited side; their 18th placed finish and relegation back to the EFL Championship showed this.

Fulham’s time in the Premier League was cut short, but not Lookman’s as Leicester was there to offer him a way out, temporarily.

As expected, in a much better Leicester compared to Fulham, Lookamn looked a lot more comfortable and started to mature into the player many believed he could be. The profile of a threatening modern Premier League winger was starting to flourish doubling his goal tally (8) showed that his efficient nature was returning to his game.

Brendan Rodgers was known to be a massive admirer of the Nigerian winger. But due to the financial constraints that Leicester was under and are still under, any transfer was only possible if an outgoing was to permit. And once again, left Lookman stranded in no man’s land.

At 24, Lookman had coined a phrase no player, let alone any young player, would want to be attached to: Journeyman. His constant floating around from club to club had led to a stagnation in his development, so he needed a stable home.

Atalanta was willing to provide Lookman with that home.

“I sat down with my family, and with Atalanta coming in, we just made up our minds that this was another stage in the journey that we needed to go through because we felt like it was important that there was another layer added to me.”

His improvement off the pitch has evidently correlated with his improvement off it. His productivity has seen a career-high boost during his time in Italy. So far, his 13 goals and four assists in the league are the most efficient he has ever been, but so have his underlying numbers.