Ademola Lookman has been linked with a switch to Arsenal this summer (Image: Getty)
Ademola Lookman has become one of Europe’s most highly-rated wingers since leaving the Premier League and may return to England this summer with unfinished business. Arsenal are claimed to have made an offer for the 26-year-old, while Liverpool are reported to have monitored his situation at Atalanta.
Lookman’s career had struggled to take off until the Serie A outfit took a punt on him in 2022, signing him from RB Leipzig. The former Charlton prospect had joined Leipzig from Everton in 2019 but made only 11 Bundesliga appearances and spent two seasons on loan at Fulham and Leicester.
It was his stunning hat-trick that ended the remarkable unbeaten run of Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen in last season’s Europa League final. His trio of strikes capped a productive campaign for Lookman, who scored 17 goals and provided 11 assists across all competitions.
Lookman has enjoyed a remarkable rise from playing Sunday League football at 17. While many of his team-mates would have been in academies from the age of seven, he was not signed by a professional club until Charlton plucked him from the grassroots pitches of Wandsworth, south London.
As many aspiring footballers in that pocket of the capital do, Lookman honed his dribbling ability in park cages.
“For Lookman, a kid from Wandsworth, who played in the cages, playing street football, going around the houses, not finding a place where he’s at home, he’s found a home here,” said Joe Cole on TNT Sports after Lookman’s hat-trick.
The Nigeria international earned a big-money move to Everton in 2017 but struggled for regular game time, leaving a year later to join Leipzig on loan. That deal was made permanent in 2019 but Lookman once again struggled to settle.
He endured an underwhelming loan at Fulham in 2020-21 before a much more productive temporary spell at Leicester followed in the next campaign, with Lookman scoring six Premier League goals. There was some surprise that the Foxes did not make the deal permanent after Lookman showed glimpses of realising his potential.
Ademola Lookman showed flashes of his potential at Leicester (Image: Getty)
“Honestly, this is why you play football,” TNT pundit Peter Crouch said of Lookman. “Somebody like Lookman, who’s been around, a footballing nomad at times.
“Somebody who’s been Sunday League, to Charlton, to Fulham on loan, Leicester, Leipzig, he’s gone around the houses to get to the moment where he’s found a home today and scored a hat-trick in a European final. It’s an amazing story.”
Whether Arsenal will sign Lookman remains to be seen. The addition of another forward to Mikel Arteta’s squad could help them beat Manchester City to the Premier League title. Lookman’s productivity at Atalanta proves he could be the signing who makes a difference.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1939206/arsenal-transfer-target-lookman