Ademola Lookman in Madrid to Complete €35m Atletico Switch

Italian Serie A side, Atalanta, have succeeded in ensuring that Nigerian forward, Ademola Lookman, did not switch to Fenerbahçe this Winter Transfer but pitched his tenth with the club’s preferred suitors, Atletico Madrid.

After the back and forth, Lookman yesterday left Bergamo to the Spanish capital for medicals to complete his switch to the LaLiga team.

The 2024 African Player of the Year was spotted at the Bergamo airport heading to Madrid  to complete his €35million transfer.

The 28-year-old London-born forward didn’t feature in Atalanta’s goalless draw with Como on Sunday evening as he was already in Madrid as at the time of the game at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia in Como.

The choice of Atlético, was for Lookman,  better than a repeat of what happened last summer when after agreeing persona terms with Inter Milan, Atalanta chiefs turned down the transfer and were only willing to deal with a club outside Italy.

That infuriated Lookman and went on Absence Without Leave (AWOL). 

It was understood that his preferred choice was a move to Fenerbahçe in the Turkish Super Lig where earlier in the week had already agreed personal terms to the tune of €9million /year in  a four-year deal.

Although it is not yet certain how much Lookman is going to earn in Spain, top transfer sources insisted yesterday that because he’s wanted personally by Atletico gaffer, Diego Simeone, the Nigerian star player was going to enjoy his stay in the Madrid capital.

Lookman played in Serie A since 2022, scoring 55 times for Atalanta following a move from RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.

His goals included a hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen in 2024, secured the club’s first European trophy and ended the German side’s 51-match unbeaten run.

He was only the sixth player to score a treble in a European club final and the first since 1975. Lookman went on to be be crowned the African Player of the Year that same 2024.

He began his career at Charlton Athletic, playing his first game in 2015, before moving to Everton two years later where he scored on his Premier League debut.

However, after failing to impose himself following the £11m move, he enjoyed a successful loan spell with RB Leipzig in the first half of 2018 and moved permanently to Germany in July 2019 for a fee of £22.5m.

His first full season with the team was a disappointment as he made just one Bundesliga start during a campaign disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

He then spent two seasons back on loan in the Premier League, first with Fulham and then Leicester City, before switching to Atalanta where his fortunes were transformed.