‘Born to play football’ – South London’s Ballon d’Or nominated Ademola Lookman and how Charlton upbringing helped propel him to European stage

EXCLUSIVE
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Ademola Lookman has come a long, long way from the 15-year-old plucked out of Sunday league football by Charlton Athletic.

Since then there has been three permanent transfers, international recognition with two countries, Europa League glory and four major individual accolades.

Tonight there will be further recognition that the former Peckham schoolboy is one of Europe’s elite footballers. Lookman, who joined Charlton’s academy in 2014, has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2024 Ballon d’Or trophy.

The frontrunners for the accolade are Real Madrid duo Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham. Superstars Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland join Lookman in the 30 footballers picked out as excelling.

The Wandsworth-born attacker scored a hat-trick in Atalanta’s 3-0 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen in May to propel the Serie A side to Europa League glory.

Arsenal and French giants PSG were both linked with Lookman in the summer.

But it all began in far less grandiose circumstances.

Not bad for a teenager whose big break only came when he played for a London representative team against Charlton’s U16s.

“He took the game by storm,” recalls Steve Avory, who stepped down as Addicks academy director in September after nearly 25 years in the club’s youth set-up.

“Thank god, that day, that there were only Charlton people around and not any other scouts – because there would have been a queue, I’m sure. Recruiting him had to be done quickly. It would have been done at the time by the head of recruitment, Paul Senior.

“Academically Ademola was very bright. The combination of his football success, ability and educational achievements led to him becoming the 2015-16 EFL Apprentice of the Year.

“What caught the eye from that very first day was that he had this wonderful one-v-one ability – to beat players. Every time he got the ball he wanted to take players on – in all areas of the pitch, so we had to educate him on that a little bit, of course, about the right times to do it.

“But when he was in that attacking third he wanted to go for goal.

“He had this wonderful balance, cleverness and more than one trick in his armoury to go past players. I remember saying to him: ‘They are queuing up to defend against you – they are doubling up – so we have to recognise there are other ways to get you past them. For example, passing it into a frontman and getting it back off them – getting the ball even closer to goal’.

“He didn’t ignore you, he took it on board, but you realised he had that confidence to dribble. We didn’t not allow him to do that, but also brought him along to realise he could be a valuable team player, which he was. He bought into the team element and work ethic, which is something we pride ourselves on.

“Now when I see him play for Atalanta, I think he is a really good defender – because they play the high-pressing game and he does it so well.

“It is his goals as well. He would score the tap-ins, he would be there on the far post, but he would also score some absolute worldies. He wanted to try things, even when they didn’t come off – the overhead kick or a volley from 30 yards.

“When they come in as a scholar you don’t know much about the person – you took the lad based off his tremendous footballing ability and potential that we saw.

“But then you realised what a good all-round person he was – very level-headed and confident, but not arrogant, in his ability. He had this genuine love and desire for the game. He loved being out there every day and he was low maintenance.”

Lookman made his senior Charlton debut in a 1-0 Championship loss to Milton Keynes on November 3, 2015.

He scored his first goal in a 3-2 loss at Brighton at the start of the following month. He netted five times in 24 appearances as the Addicks were relegated.

Nick Pope and Johann Berg Gudmundsson were sold to Premier League new boys Burnley that summer but Lookman stayed until the January transfer window – Everton paid £11million for the then 19-year-old.

Lookman had scored three goals for England U20s as they won the 2017 World Cup in June 2017, only increasing his stock.

AFC Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson was Addicks captain at the time.

Jackson said: “He was with the U23s group – it sounds like we’re going to make it up for the sake of the story – but he was always the one you’d look over and say: ‘Who is this kid running rings around everyone?’

“Then you found out his background which was interesting – because kids don’t tend to get to that age without being spotted, especially in South London.

“As soon as he came to train with us it was like ‘wow, this is something different’ in terms of the way he moved and manipulated the ball. But he was a kid – he was so young, slight and baby-faced. Just pure ability.

“He had no physical stature about him but you could tell straight away that his ability was ridiculous.

“He was game, despite not having the physical side. He was a tough cookie. He’d get kicked, get up and get on with it.

“I remember at Brighton he scored, we got beaten and he was quite emotional after that. But he hadn’t been used to the winning and the losing – it was all new to him in first-team football. The more you do it the more you learn not to get too high or too low. You look at him now and he has been through it all, so he probably manages that a bit better.

“But I think that emotion helped him because he had a hunger and enthusiasm for it. He just loved football and it was infectious.”

Lookman was the biggest fee for a League One player when the Toffees snapped him up.

He played 49 matches for the South Londoners, whose status in England’s third tier made them weakened in terms of holding on to talent, especially with a owner in Roland Duchatelet, who viewed selling youngsters for sizeable sums as a successful business model.

Charlton centre-back Joe Gomez had been bought by Liverpool for £3.5million in June 2015, shortly after his 18th birthday.

“That’s the problem with the young ones – we never had them long enough,” said Jackson. “Joe played around 20 games. Ezri (Konsa) was maybe a couple of seasons before he got his move but with Ademola, when they are that good that young, they just get the moves quickly.

“Half the problem is that people don’t want to wait and run the risk someone else takes them. They aren’t always necessarily going because they are going to play for the team buying them – but they do their learning there. I imagine Ade would have had his pick of quite a few clubs, when he left.

“Joe was different because at 17 he was six feet-plus and built like a man. He was an athlete and physical.

“As far as pure ability, someone like Scotty (Parker) did not have as much as Ademola. He played like he was in the cage – typical South London boys who have been playing street football. Unbelievably gifted.

“I watched him in the Europa League final. I take a keen interest in all those boys that come through – Joe, Ez, Karlan (Grant) and him – because I was a bit of a mentor to a lot of them. I was the captain, the older one. I tried to look after them and help them come through.

“To watch him do that in a European final was unbelievable.

“I don’t speak to him often – the occasional text here and there – but I still felt proud when he went and did that. It’s great for Charlton and people who
feel they have played a little part in it.”

Chris Solly was another Addicks mainstay who was in the same side as Lookman. The former right-back, who played 313 matches for the club, returned to the club in July as professional development phase coach.

“You could see from day one when he came over with us that technically he was at such a high level at such a young age,” said Solly.

“He had a tiny frame but had that low centre of gravity, where he was so fast over five or 10 yards.

“As a winger he could go left or right, he was comfortable on both feet. Character-wise he was quiet – but fearless. He wouldn’t say much at all in the changing room or in training, but you knew when he got the ball he wanted to go forward and create problems.

“I’ve followed his career and the biggest progression I can see is he still has that big threat going forward but he is so reliable in possession now. I watched the Arsenal game when they played Atalanta and he never gave the ball away. He knows when is the moment to attack the full-back, when to go one-on-one, when to turn out and switch it the other way.

“His decision-making now in the final third is brilliant. As a winger that is difficult to have and it is why he has had so much success.

“The only thing I’d love to see him do is come back and establish himself in a top Premier League team. He had the loan moves to Fulham and Leicester – he did really well at Leicester – but he has taken his game to another level at Atalanta, playing Champions League football now.

“When he left for Everton I was certain he would establish himself as a starter in the Premier League, week in and week out – that people would really see how good he was.

“There is still a little piece of me that wants to see that again one day. I’ve no doubt his next move, if he does ever leave, will be to a Champions League team – because that is the level he is at now.

“He was Atalanta’s most impressive player against Arsenal and that is at the real elite level of football.”

Lookman’s status and impact really kicked on after leaving RB Leipzig for Atalanta in 2022.

Prior to that he had successive season-long loans with Fulham and Leicester.

Lookman showed flashes of what he was capable of at both clubs.

Millwall defender Joe Bryan was part of the same Fulham squad which lost their top-flight status under Scott Parker.

Lookman scored four times for the Whites but made headlines for the wrong reasons with a missed Panenka penalty in the 98th minute of a 1-0 defeat at West Ham United.

“I played against Ademola when he was 16 or 17 at Charlton when I was playing for Bristol City,” said Bryan. “You could already tell he was a cut above everyone else on the pitch at that age.

“I had the pleasure of playing alongside him at Fulham for a season where I could comfortably say he was the most professional young man I have ever worked with by a country mile.

“He took everything about his game so seriously – from improvement to nutrition and recovery. I’m actually not surprised about where he has got to and where he is going to.

“He was always one where I thought: ‘He will end up slowly rising to where he belongs – at the top.’ I’m very happy to see that. He rightfully deserves it – he’s had a fantastic couple of years.”

Lookman’s final goal in a Charlton shirt was a 1-0 win over MK on Boxing Day 2016 – a first victory for Karl Robinson after being appointed manager at the end of the previous month.

“He was actually gutted to leave but knew he had to, because of the amount of money and the opportunity he was going to get,” said Robinson.

“When it (the move to Everton) was all getting done myself, Ade and Dele (Alli) went for some food and spoke about leaving League One and going to the Premier League.

“Dele spoke about the experience he had, to try and help him.

“Ademola was such a student of the game and Dele is one of the nicest people you could hope to meet. It was a real nice touch, to give Ademola a few tips about going into a first-team dressing room too soon.

“After he had been there a few months I went to see him at his flat and had a coffee. He had started really well at Everton but just seemed like the same kid who had left us.

“Because he came into football so late on, he played like a kid from the streets. He was a pleasure to work with every day.

“I was so lucky at Charlton that we almost did away [with older pros]. No disrespect because they had all been fantastic players – but you had Nicky Ajose, Lee Novak, Kevin Foley, Andrew Crofts and Johnnie Jackson coming towards the back end of their career.

“And they had not been playing Joe Aribo, Ezri Konsa and Ademola. Steve Avory is one of the best in the business, so we knew we had some good young players – Anfernee Dijksteel was part of that.

“Ademola was certainly the shining light and probably led the way for some of the others, like Ezri and Karlan.

“Sometimes people say it doesn’t pay to be a good person – in Ademola’s case it certainly does. He is so grounded, respectful and incredibly polite.”

The success keeps coming. Lookman’s Nigeria were runners-up at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2023 and he was voted into the Team of the Tournament.

He has been Atalanta’s Player of the Season for the previous two campaigns and made the 2023-24 Europa League Team of the season.

This campaign has started well.

Lookman scored and assisted in the Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk and has a brace of goals and assists in Serie A.

He has 56 goal contributions in 86 matches for I Nerazzurri (The black and blues).

If Lookman is grateful for Charlton Athletic handing him his big break in the sport, the joy he has imparted back to those people he came into contact with holds real value too.

Sergei Baltacha was U18 boss when he thrived at that age group.

“He’s a player you will remember for all your life,” said the former Ipswich Town defender, who was capped 45 times by the Soviet Union.

“He is quality as a player and person as well.

“One day I took him home and I asked where he had some sessions. He said: ‘I play here on the park every day’. He didn’t waste any time.

“To see him score one of the goals in the final against Bayern Leverkusen, where he cut in from the left side and put it in on his right foot, we would practice this all the time.

“He was born to be a footballer. He was outstanding.”

The exciting thing is that the best could still be yet to come.