Ademola Lookman, the Super Eagles forward and recently decorated African Footballer of the Year, was audacious about his own pre-eminence for Atalanta so much so that he predicted that he was going to make a success of his career with his Italian side.
Way back in January 2023 and just less than six months after he was signed by Atalanta from Leicester City on a four-year contract for a reported fee of 15 million Euros, the London-born Ademola was pressed on his breakthrough in the Serie A after a struggling career with Everton, RB Leipzig, among others.
“Did I expect to be this successful? Yes! Of course, I expected it. Maybe it’s a surprise to you, but I know what I can bring, I know what I can do. The team is the most important thing,” the then 25-year-old Lookman said after scoring what was his 12th goal since joining Atalanta in a Serie A clash against Sampdoria. “The differences? Different circumstances, different scenarios that made me who I am today and that’s me as a whole person.
“I think I’m in the right moment, doing the right things, keep staying disciplined in what I do.”
Over the last two seasons, Lookman has turned out to be one of the major fulcrum for Atalanta as well as the Super Eagles of Nigeria, since he switched nationality playing for his native country in March 2022 after starring for his adopted England with whom he was a FIFA Under-20 World Cup winner in 2017.
Lookman practically made the 2023/2024 season his own with both Atalanta and the Super Eagles, scoring important goals for both club and country with aplomb. At the start of January in the prestigious Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire. Lookman was undoubtedly the ‘star boy’ for Nigeria, scoring three goals and a couple of assists to lead the Super Eagles through the maze unto the final where they painfully lost 2-1 to the host team, the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire.
But it was with Atalanta in the year under review that Lookman, affectionately called ‘Mola’ by close admirers and fans, showed his stellar stuff and what a better way to show the world what he was capable of doing than in the 2024 Europa League Cup Final in Dublin.
Pitched against German champions, Bayer Leverkusen, complete with his compatriot, Victor Boniface, Lookman turned the tide in Atalanta’s favour scoring a stunning hat-trick in a 3-0 score line in what would be his side’s first major silverware, not only in Europe but first honour since 1963.
His heroic hat-trick in the Europa League final which was the fastest in history – all coming within 26 minutes, saw Lookman become the first African player to achieve the feat since 1975.
Aside, he was also the first player ever to score a hat-trick in a Europa League final and the very first in a major European final since Jupp Heynckes’ hat-trick for Monchengladbach in the 5-1 thrashing of Twente in the second leg of the 1975 UEFA Cup final. His unique hat-trick was also the first in a single-match major European final since Pierino Prati’s efforts, when AC Milan brushed aside Ajax (in their first-ever final ) 4-1 to win the 1969 European Cup final.
Read Also: Lookman makes top Serie A marksmen for 2024
As we say in local parlance, ‘Mola just blow’ with that Europa League Cup Final performance to become Atalanta and, indeed, the Super Eagles’ star of the moment.
Those pivotal achievements with the Super Eagles at the 2023 AFCON and of course with Atalanta gave him a place in the final shortlist of 30 for the 2024 Ballon d’Or Prize where he finished 14th and, importantly, the only African player and, of course, the first Atalanta player to be so well honoured in Paris.
“It’s a crazy thing. And being the only African on the list makes it even more special. I’m proud of it. It’s an honour, knowing where I come from,” he said of the Ballon d’Or finish. “I was very struck by the fact that (Gian Piero) Gasperini told me a few days later that I had become part of football history. It’s true, it’s an honour, but I worked hard to get here.”
Born in Wandsworth on the 20th of October in 1997 and christened Ademola Lookman Olajade Alade Iyiola, the fast-paced and skilful winger with the ability to drift past defenders, attack the depth and can cover different positions in the attack who can play different positions offensively, started playing for Charlton Athletic, making his senior team debut in November 2015.
He reportedly joined Everton in January 2017 but was loaned out to RB Leipzig in January 2018 and kicked off his spell in Germany by scoring on his debut, which arrived in the away victory over Borussia Monchengladbach. He rounded off the season with five goals and four assists registered in 11 appearances and after another spell at Everton, he was signed again by RB Leipzig in the summer of 2019. He then returned to England on loan to play for the Premier League sides Fulham first and then Leicester City en route to Atalanta in 2022, where he has turned into a sensation.
He was deservedly named Atalanta Player of The Season, made the Europa League Team of The Year as he remarkably contributed 27 goals and 12 assists between club and country in 2024.
“I’ve always had the confidence in my ability,” Lookman, who started his professional football career in 2014 with Charlton Athletic’s Academy, said after leading Atalanta to their famous win in Dublin. “In the past two years, I’ve been able to take my game to a new level and show it on a more consistent basis. Maybe it could have come earlier but it has come now.
“I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made, but this is just the beginning. I hope for more nights like this,” he added.
Of course, Lookman would be the last to take his foot off the pedal and in the on-going 2024-2025 campaign, Lookman has remained a class act with Atalanta on the last count; he has scored an impressive eight goals with four assists across 13 matches to consolidate his burgeoning career as his Bergamo city club romped to the top of the Serie A.
On his own personal level, his achievements for both Nigeria and Atalanta in the period under review, made him the firm favourite to claim the prestigious African Footballer of the Year prize for 2024.
It was therefore not a surprise at all that on December 16 in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, Lookman came out brightly despite some stiff challenges from the star-studded quartet of Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy, Ivorian Simon Adingra, and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams from South Africa.
The 2024 CAF Men’s Player of the Year gong, made the 27-year-old Lookman the sixth Nigerian to win the much-coveted continental’s individual award after Rashidi Yekini (1993), Emmanuel Amuneke(1994), Nwankwo Kanu (1996 and 1999), Victor Ikpeba (1997), and Victor Osimhen (2023).
He was also named in the CAF 2024 FIFPro Men’s Best XI alongside his compatriot Victor Osimhen, among other notable African super stars including Egypt and Liverpool striker Mo Salah, Cameroon and Manchester United’s Andre Onana in goal, with Morocco and PSG’s Hakimi, Senegal and Al Hilal’s Kalidou Koulibaly, and DR Congo and Marseille’s Chancel Mbemba completing the back three.
In midfield are Ghana and West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus, Morocco and Fenerbahce’s Sofyan Ambrabat, Cote d’Ivoire and Al-Ahli Saudi’s Frank Kessie, and Mali and Tottenham’s Yves Bissouma.
“First, I want to thank the Almighty God for all that he has been doing in my life,” Lookman said inter alia after being feted as the 2024 African Footballer of the Year on December 16th in Marrakech. “I want to thank the President, my teammates at both club and country; I want to thank them for their support and the love that they have given me.
“Today is a blessing to me, my family and my nation. To be recognised as the best player in Africa is something incredible and I’m extremely proud of this.
“Four years ago, my career felt down and fast forward four years after, I’m the best player in Africa. I want to say to all the young children and people watching this, don’t let your failures weigh you down, to break your wings; but for a fact, turn your pains to your power and you begin to fly,” he added.
For us at Sporting Life, no Nigerian athlete has captured the imagination as much as Lookman has done in the year under review and his choice as this newspaper’s Sportsperson of the Year for 2024 is remarkable indeed.
In what would henceforth be an annual accolade by your authoritative and the leading sports paper in Nigeria, we have the honour of presenting to you, Ademola Lookman as the first Nigerian to be so recognised as the Sporting Life’s Sportsperson of the Year.
