Leicester miss out on permanent of Ademola Lookman as he signs for Italian side Atalanta

SUPER Eagles winger Ademola Lookman will not be making a permanent transfer to English Premier League side Leicester City after Italian Serie A club Atalanta concluded a deal to sign him for the forthcoming 2022/23 season.

 

Lookman, 24, was owned by German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, who loaned him out to Leicester City last season. One of the team's best players, Lookman had a brilliant time at the King Power Stadium, scoring eight goals in 42 appearances on loan, prompting manager Brendan Rogers to seek his signature as a permanent signing.

 

However, Atalanta appear to have beaten them to the player and have signed Lookman up on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. After struggling to settle down in Germany, Lookman, who spent the 2020/21 campaign on loan at Fulham, said he is happy to find a new home in the northern Italian city of Bergamo.

 

An Under-20 World Cup winner with England in 2017, Lookman switched international allegiance to Nigeria, the country of his parents, in February this year. A former Charlton Athletic and Everton player, Lookman scored five times in 24 appearance for RB Leipzig after moving to Germany for a fee of £22.5m in 2019.

 

Lookman joined Charlton's academy in 2014 and made a rapid rise through the ranks before making his first-team debut in November 2015. Over two seasons, he went on to feature 49 times in all competitions for the Addicks, scoring 12 goals, before signing for Everton on a four-and-a-half-year-deal in January 2017.

 

He scored four goals in 48 appearances for the Toffees, before enjoying a brief loan spell with RB Leipzig in the 2017/18 season which led to a permanent five-year deal in July 2019. Lookman has four caps for Nigeria and scored his first international goal in the record 10-0 win over Sao Tome e Principe in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in June.

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