- From Playing on the Streets to Everton Wonderkid
Pep Guardiola is regarded as one of the best coaches in world football, especially with the successes he recorded with FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich not only in terms of trophies but the way he transformed the clubs. But last Sunday, against Everton, the Spaniard was handed his worst defeat in his coaching career. One of the players that orchestrated Everton’s victory was Nigerian-born England Under-21, Ademola Lookman. His performance has been enjoying media attention since then. Kunle Adewale, in this report, writes about Lookman’s spectacular performance and the lad’s possibility of earning a call to the Super Eagles squad or choose to play for the Three Lions
With the attention Ademola Lookman is enjoying, it may not be too long before the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) starts making move for the England Under21 player to play for Nigeria as against the country of his birth, like the federation had done in the case of many English players with Nigerian descents. Victor Moses and recently, Alex Iwobi are good examples.
Lookman came on in stoppage time of Everton’s 4-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday to score the fourth goal after capitalising on a mistake from John Stones despite being on the pitch for just for minutes.
The £7.5m signing from Charlton was delighted with his performance and said afterward: “The gaffer just said ‘play behind Rom. I was lucky to anticipate the ball and put it in the back of the net. My first premier league goal, this is my chance to score it – and I took it well.”
With his goal-scoring debut for Everton, 19-year-old Lookman is already dreaming beyond the Toffees.
“One day I want to win trophies. Of course I want to play at the highest level – whether in England or Spain, I want to be at the top. You have teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid. As a kid, I dreamt of playing for one of those teams,” he said.
When Everton poached Leicester’s head of recruitment Steve Walsh in the summer, it was easy to understand the logic. The 52-year-old’s reputation had hit new heights after he unearthed Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante to inspire Leicester’s title triumph, and Everton were eager to apply the same expertise at Goodison Park.
Idrissa Gueye, Yannick Bolasie and Ashley Williams were the headline arrivals in Walsh’s first transfer window as Everton’s director of football. Penultimate week, they began their January spending with a less familiar addition, when Lookman arrived from Charlton as a little-known teenager with no Premier League experience. At £10m, he is the most expensive ever signing from League One.
The fee reflects just how highly he is regarded by Everton. A rapid rise into Charlton’s first team convinced Walsh that the speedy, skillful little forward could be the next breakout star from the lower leagues, and Ronald Koeman has already described him as an important part of his long-term vision for the club.
Like many of Walsh’s best signings, Lookman has had an unconventional route to the top. The jump from League One to Premier League has drawn parallels with Dele Alli’s move to Tottenham, but while Alli was on MK Dons’ books from the age of 11, Lookman did not set foot in a professional academy until he was 16. Charlton U21 coach and former Wimbledon striker, Jason Euell remembers how Lookman came to the club’s attention. “It was right at the end of the U-16 year in 2014,” he tells Sky Sports. “The majority of scholarship decisions had already been made, but every year our U-16s play a game against Inner London, an FA side for the best players in South London.”
Charlton had received a tip-off about Lookman. The youngster was playing what Euell describes as “innocent Sunday football” for an amateur team called Waterloo FC in the London borough of Lambeth, but he produced a dazzling performance for the county side in front of Charlton’s watching coaching staff.
“He had no academy background at all,” says Euell. “Sometimes it can happen that a player slips through the net, but we were lucky to already have a relationship with the county and with Waterloo FC. We signed him on a scholarship straight away.”
Lookman was drafted into Charlton’s U18 side during his first season at the club, scoring 17 goals in 29 appearances as they clinched both regional and national titles. It wasn’t long before Premier League clubs started to take note, but Charlton are experts in youth coaching and understood the need to be cautious with his development.
“We knew the talent he had but sometimes it’s about taking your time with someone like him,” says Euell. “He had been training once or twice a week but he had to get used to every day, professional football while doing his school work. He had growing to do and he had to start a full-time weight programme, so we had to be careful with how we used him.”
Lookman was eventually promoted to Euell’s U21s, and in November 2015 he made his senior debut in a 1-0 defeat to MK Dons. Charlton’s season would end in relegation to League One, but a little over a year on from playing Sunday league football, Lookman took the step up in his stride, scoring five goals in 24 appearances and landing the 2015/16 Championship Apprentice of the Year award.
Lookman’s breakthrough was recognised with his first England U19 call-up last May. His outstanding attributes are his pace, dribbling and powerful finishing ability with both feet, but without any professional coaching before he joined Charlton, there were areas of his game which required extra attention.
“There were a lot of things he missed out on, and that was the learning and understanding of the game,” says Euell. “Young lads always say they can play football, but then comes the tactical side of it, the game understanding and the decision-making process.
“We didn’t want to stop Ademola from doing what he does because that’s what makes him special, it was just about getting him to understand when and where to do certain things. At every level, every game is different. He had to learn what was needed from him in and out of possession.”
Charlton rejected an offer from Crystal Palace in the summer, but Lookman never lost focus and added seven goals in 25 appearances for Charlton in the first-half of this season. Euell chuckles as he recalls having to drag him off the training pitch at Charlton’s Sparrow’s Lane headquarters. That determination to improve should serve him well at Everton.
“He’s a great character and everyone else at the training ground would say exactly the same thing,” says Euell. “He is just a humble boy who loves his football. He hates being injured and he always wants to do extra work. He just wants the ball at his feet and wants to improve. He’s one of those guys who absolutely hate losing.”
Charlton manager Karl Robinson only coached Lookman for a few weeks having taken over at The Valley in November, but he described the teenager as an “incredible talent” and a “joy to work with” when the deal was confirmed. Lookman has made a positive impression on just about everyone who has known him, and he heads to Everton hoping for more of the same.
“He called me up to say goodbye,” says Euell. “I said: ‘Goodbye? It’s only a see you later; you’re only going up north!’ We had a nice chat. I gave him a bit of advice and wished him well.” Lookman is still learning, but he has the talent and he has the temperament too. In his new Merseyside surroundings, he might just become Walsh’s latest success story.
Former Nigerian international, Paul Okoku, is of the opinion that it would be a right decision in the right direction if the NFF should make a move to convince Lookman to don the colours of the Super Eagles.
In a telephone chat with Okoku from his base in the United States, the St. Finbarrs College of Lagos graduate, who claims he has been watching the progress of Lookman from his days at Charlton Athletic, said it would not be a bad idea if the NFF starts monitoring the progress of the 19-year old from now on and try to woo him to play for Nigeria.
“I think he is the kind of player that will fit into the style of the Super Eagles. I’m not saying he should just be drafted into the Super Eagles just like that. Of course, he would have to earn the national team’s shirt to justify his inclusion when the time comes. However, the federation should first try to convince him on the need to play for his fatherland and not another country,” Okuku said.
The 1988 Africa Cup of Nations silver medalist is of the opinion that with the performance of Nigeria in the World Cup qualifier, it won’t be too difficult to convince Lookman as the Super Eagles is in a good stead to hoist its flag at the 2018 Mundial in Russia.
“Unpalatable experiences of some Nigerians that had tried to play for England in the past are enough for any Nigerian player to think twice in their choice of country to play for. Moreover, Eagles’ dominance of their group in the World Cup qualifying rounds is enough to lure any player of Nigeria extraction to play for the country. “Also, at this time, we need young players that would play for the country for 10 or more years and dominate the world stage like what we witnessed during Clemence Westerhof’s era. That is why players such as Lookman is important to the Super Eagles’ project,” the defunct Union Bank of Lagos player said.
Born as Ademola Olajade Lookman October 20, 1997, in Wandsworth, London to Nigerian parents, he attended St. Thomas the Apostle College in Peckham where he achieved three As asteriks and five As at GCSE.
Lookman signed for Everton on January 5, 2017 for a fee of £7.5m rising to £11m on a four-and-a-half year contract and made his debut for the club 10 days later. He scored on his debut.
He received his first international call up on May 16, 2016 being named in the England U19 squad for a double header against Mexico. He was subsequently named in the England squad for the European U19 Championships the same summer
