President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick’s style of recruiting players for the national team, which he termed ‘VIP scouting’ seems to have scored another goal, after England junior international of Nigerian descent, Ademola Lookman switched his international allegiance to his fatherland
Leipzig star Ademola Lookman has switched his international allegiance from England to Nigeria, in spite of the 22-year-old forward, who was born in England to parents of Nigerian descent having played for the European country’s youth national teams.
The news was revealed by Nigeria’s technical assistant Tunde Adelakun when speaking to Opera News, “Lookman has applied for the switch and all the documents are in order,” Adelakun said.
“It’s a positive step forward when made his commitment to Nigeria and we are just waiting for a FIFA clearance.
“Once the go-ahead is sorted, it will be up to Coach Gernot Rohr to decide if his club performance would earn him a call-up.”
Lookman helped England win 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Korea Republic and was also part of the England team which won the 2017 Toulon U-20 Four Nations tournament in France.
In the summer, Lookman set a new Nigerian transfer record when he moved to RB Leipzig from Everton for a move worth up to £22.5m
German Bundesliga club, RB Leipzig broke the Nigerian transfer record for Lookman after Everton agree to sell the winger for a fee said to be worth up to £22.5m.
Before then, the costliest transfer involving a Nigerian winger is Ahmed Musa’s switch to Leicester City in the summer of 2016, with CSKA Moscow pocketing £16.6 million from the deal, meaning Lookman’s return to RB Leipzig surpassed that fee.
The 21-year-old already played for RB Leipzig in the second half of the 2017-18 season and was directly involved in nine goals-five goals and four assists from 11 appearances in the German top flight under the stewardship of now-Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Since then, RB Leipzig have held an interest in Lookman, and after an underwhelming campaign where Marco Silva used him sparingly, he is now set for a permanent exit.
He saw his first-team opportunities limited upon his return to Everton last season, making only three Premier League starts and played 18 games off the bench.
Things have not worked out as well as he might have hoped since making the January 2017 move from Charlton Athletic to Everton. Lookman has only managed 48 outings – with four goals and two assists – and has mainly been a bench player.
But the former England U-21 international is set to continue his career in Germany. He thrived in the Bundesliga previously and will hope to follow the likes of Jadon Sancho and Reiss Nelson, who both enjoyed success in the German top-flight.
In 2017, Pep Guardiola was dented with the biggest loss in his coaching career by Everton, a victory that was orchestrated by the Nigerian-born England U-21 and his performance enjoyed a lot of media attention.
Lookman came on in stoppage time of Everton’s 4-0 win over Manchester City to score the fourth goal after capitalizing on a mistake from John Stones despite being on the pitch for just a matter of minutes.
The then £7.5m signing from Charlton was delighted with his performance and he 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, the then19-year-old Lookman dreamt playing 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 dreamed 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.
The Walsh was quick to identify the talent in Lookman as the Nigerian arrived from Charlton as a little-known teenager with no Premier League experience. But at £10m, he was the most expensive ever signing from League One.
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.
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 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 U-19 squad for a doubleheader against Mexico. He was subsequently named in England squad for the European U-19 Championships the same summer.
