Charlton Athletic pride as Ademola Lookman wins major European silverware – and shock he had been out of youth system before Addicks move

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Ademola Lookman was already an inspiration to the aspirational young players in Charlton Athletic’s academy ranks, even before he won major European silverware last week.

The Addicks’ youth product had suffered a couple of final defeats in 2024 with Nigeria, at the Africa Cup of Nations, and in the Coppa Italia. But any disappointment or heartache was erased by his sensational hat-trick for Atalanta in their Europa League victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

Peckham-raised Lookman is the first player to bag a treble in a Europa League final and he has 23 goal contributions for his Serie A club -also scoring and assisting in their 3-0 victory over Torino at the weekend.

It’s almost hard to fathom how the South Londoner was playing Sunday league football for Southwark-based Waterloo FC just a decade ago before being spotted by Charlton. Long-serving Addicks academy boss Steve Avory admits to being “amazed” that his talent and potential had not been spotted earlier.

“I was watching him in a recruitment game that we had here against London FA, at this time of year in 2013,” recalled Avory, who has overseen the breakthroughs for the likes of Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa.

“To see a player of his ability, within 20 minutes of the game you are thinking ‘who is he and where has he been?’. To find out he hadn’t been at an academy – I don’t know if he ever had a trial anywhere, he was with Waterloo – was something unusual. You don’t normally get that, to see someone that exciting on the ball.

“Those goals he scored, the second and third ones, he would do that type of thing within his first season here. He was scoring what you would call wonder goals.”

Felix Emanus, who coached Lookman at Waterloo and is a father figure, has praised those at grassroots level who aided his journey.

“He thrives on the big stage,” Emanus told TNT Sports after the Europa League final. “He loves it and has never been frightened of it. Even when I was taking him for trials, I would be nervous and he’d be cool and calm. I’ve been with him since he was nine, at Waterloo, and all he ever wanted to do was be a footballer.”

Lookman made 49 senior appearances for Charlton before being sold, at the age of 19, to Everton in January 2017. He had scored seven times in 25 matches and became the most expensive League One transfer.

Lookman made his debut for Charlton in the Championship – a 1-0 loss to Milton Keynes in November 2015 – and scored his first goal in a 3-2 defeat at Brighton the following month.

The Addicks’ relegation from the second tier in that campaign made it inevitable there would be high-profile departures – Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Nick Pope both transferred to Burnley in July 2016.

Lookman was retained until the next transfer window.

“It’s not easy (to keep players) – not when the top Premier League clubs, or any Premier League club really, come showing an interest in your player,” said Avory, who is academy director at Charlton and first joined as assistant director in January 2001.

“The player, I suppose, gets captivated by that interest as well.

“But Ade played nearly 50 games for us and he was establishing himself in our first-team. I’d have loved that to have carried on for another year or so – I remember telling him that at the time – but it is difficult to stop.”

Lookman’s story is also one that underlines how important persistence is. He never managed to establish himself in Everton’s first-team and had loans back in English football after signing for RB Leipzig in 2019.

Lookman has blossomed under the tutelage of Gian Piero Gasperini at Atalanta.

“He has referred to the fact with this manager and support staff behind him, that he feels it has clicked there for him,” said Avory.

“But other people who I have spoken to about him at Fulham and Leicester, when he was on loan at those two clubs – I heard Brendan Rodgers talking about him on the radio – they all saw that ability and potential that he had.

“There has always been a work ethic with Ade. He would always run for the team – and he has that speed, as well, which is effective in the attacking sense.

“I was impressed by that work ethic in a tactical plan against Leverkusen. It impressed me greatly, the way they went about that pressing and he was a part of that.

“It was a fantastic night for Ade and a fantastic night for all of us watching the game who have been associated with him – there are a number of people still here at the club who remember working with him. Who would have thought it would work out like that?

“If you score that first goal it does wonders for your confidence, on a major stage. He took it on from there.”

Charlton’s academy are able to point to a production line of talent that has gone on to carve out significant careers.

Lookman’s heroics in Dublin last week can help act as extra motivational fuel for the next generation.

“He was already an example to our young players,” said Avory.

“That (the Europa League final match) will have come to the attention of a lot of them.

“I’m sat in the class room talking to you now and looking at all the murals we have got around here of players that have come through.

“I’m looking at him, Konsa, Gomez and Miles Leaburn, who is here at the moment. There are plenty around to remind our young players, every time they come into the class room.”

PICTURES: PA