Ademola Lookman talks to FFT
here’s not much Ademola Lookman hasn’t seen during his embryonic football career. Relegation, six managers, fan protests, flying pigs, a big-money move and a goal on his Premier League debut – all this inside three years.
Since Charlton Athletic plucked him from the muck and nettles of Sunday League football, the 19-year-old has been the star of his own soap opera.
The latest twist from his unconventional tale took him to Everton at the start of the year in a deal worth £11 million, but now he’s about to face his biggest challenge yet – posing with an ice lolly inside a dressing room at the Toffees’ training ground.
Fourfourtwo’s photographer hands him the Rocket and says, “Have fun with it.” He pauses for a second, looking confused. “I’ve never done anything like this before,” he laughs.
But then, unprompted, he raises his left arm, clenches his fist and sticks out his little finger and thumb, before shaking his hand from side to side, imitating the signature goal celebration of Brazilian superstars Neymar and Ronaldinho.
“This is what the Brazilian players do,” the youngster grins, revealing a mouth full of metal. “I love the way that they play – with freedom.”
It’s this passion for joga bonito that has propelled Lookman from the Sunday League pitches of Peckham to Premier League stadia, skipping the academy education in between.
“What a few years it’s been for you,” FFT says. He puffs out his cheeks and smiles. “It’s been crazy!” says Lookman. And the craziest moment? Scoring on his Everton debut. “I’ve watched the goal back 100 times.”
Just 10 days after taking the teen to Merseyside, Toffees’ manager Ronald Koeman named Lookman in his squad for the home game with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
With 89 minutes on the clock, Everton were cruising to a 3-0 victory over the beleaguered Citizens, so Koeman threw on his new signing for a quick run-out. Just four minutes later Seamus Coleman blocked a clearance from John Stones, propelling the ball towards Lookman. His first touch cushioned the ball neatly into his path. The second hit it low and through Claudio Bravo’s legs.
“When the ball came out to me, I was thinking, ‘I’m one-on-one with the keeper, I can actually score’,” he says, eyes widening. “I celebrated with a knee slide. If you see my expression, I don’t think that I smiled until after I came off the pitch – that’s how shocked I was. Scoring on my debut, nothing gets better than that.”
This is a phrase that Lookman must have said repeatedly during the last three years as he continues to trump his own achievements. During a fledgling career that’s already travelled at breakneck speed, has he found any time to take stock yet?
“When I’m at home thinking about where I am now and how far I’ve come... it makes me proud,” he says.
Lookman is self-taught, developing his skills on the streets of south London where guile, speed and improvisation are all key weapons of choice. Then, on Sunday mornings, hat-tricks were his calling card at Waterloo FC. Both Brighton and Crystal Palace took him on trial, but he failed to impress and returned to the muddy pitches of Lambeth.
While he insists he never gave up on his dream, Lookman reveals a moment of tragedy inspired him to chase it that little bit harder.
“One of my team-mates at Waterloo died,” he says, looking at the floor. “His name was Josh. He came to training with a swollen knee. The next week we were told he’d died of a blood clot. It was so sudden that it brought us all together, and we vowed to each other that we’d try our best to make it in football for him.”
The loss of his friend drove Lookman on. When the next chance to stand out presented itself, he grabbed it.
In April 2014 he was selected to appear for the London FA against Charlton Athletic’s under-16 side. Unhappy at starting the game as a substitute, he came off the bench and made a statement with an all-action performance. “After that match, a scout from Charlton offered me a trial,” he recalls. “I scored four goals in my trial game and then they offered me a scholarship.”
An overwhelming feeling of relief had superseded the straight-a student’s excitement. “I had been applying for colleges thinking, ‘This isn’t what I want to do’,” he admits.
“My parents are from Nigeria, and in our culture they want you to be an accountant or a lawyer. I told them I was going to be an accountant, but I was lying. I only ever wanted to be a footballer.”
To make the giant leap from non-league to the professional ranks is one thing; to go from park pitches to the second tier is like putting a learner driver in a Formula 1 supercar.
But Lookman had little trouble shifting through the gears, even if the petrol tank emptied pretty quickly. “My legs were feeling very heavy after the first training session – after that I knew I was good enough to be at that level,” he recalls.
He quickly found out a step up in standard meant a step up in tactical acumen. “At Sunday League you’re given a formation but not everyone follows it – that side of the game was a real change,” he explains. “I had to learn when to dribble, when to pass, when to defend and how to fit into the team.”
Under the tutelage of academy coaches Steve Avory and Jason Euell he upped his tactical IQ and flourished – racing through the academy ranks before making his first-team debut during a 1-0 defeat to MK Dons in November 2015.
“When I got the call to come on I looked over my shoulder to see if it was me they were calling,” he reveals. “I couldn’t find my shin pads. They were in the pocket of the jacket I’d been warming up in.
“The manager [Karel Fraeye] just said, ‘Go out there and enjoy it – and express yourself’. I was pretty nervous, but after a few touches I gained confidence and eased into it.”
Like an experienced pro, he blocked out the chaos engulfing The Valley and went on to score five goals in 24 appearances to win Championship Apprentice of the Year.
Charlton were relegated to League One last term with growing unrest among the fans over the management of the club off the field. Once again Lookman took it in his stride and scored during the Addicks’ win over Coventry, which was halted after fans threw thousands of toy pigs onto the pitch.
During the first-half of 2016-17 he played under three managers, but still managed to score seven goals in 25 Charlton appearances. The situation at the club diluted his feeling of satisfaction. “It was a difficult time for the football club – we lost a lot of matches and got relegated last season, so my personal achievements didn’t count for much in the end,” he says.
“It was difficult trying to adapt to the various methods of the different managers, but it made me much stronger and helped me to realise that I don’t like the feeling of losing games – not one bit. I want to win.”
He couldn’t arrest the south Londoners’ slide, but Ademola’s fluid footwork and cool finishing caught the eye of Everton’s new director of football, Steve Walsh – the man who had previously brought Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’golo Kante to Leicester.
Walsh convinced Koeman to part with £11m of the Toffees’ cash to take Lookman to Goodison Park, making him the most expensive signing ever from a League One club.
Breakout star or not, this is the Premier League and the teenage talent had to quickly integrate himself into a dressing room filled with international stars. Fortunately, he found two willing mentors.
“Romelu [Lukaku] and Yannick [Bolasie] have really helped me to settle in,” he reveals. “They have both told me to not be afraid and to keep expressing myself on the pitch – that’s what got me here. I shouldn’t stop doing it just because I’m at a different level now.”
Three years ago he was playing at the Lilian Baylis Technology School with his friends. Now he is testing himself against the Premier League elite at a state-of-the-art training facility.
“At Waterloo FC I had to get changed in a mini-bus and go out and play straight away,” he recollects. “We would play on uneven grass, but here the pitches are amazing. Those differences make me more grateful. The quality in training is incredible: the first touch, the passing, the movement.
“I sat down in the dressing room after the first training session thinking, ‘This is what I want’. Now that I’m here I’ve just got to keep working hard.”
Koeman rewarded his performances in training with a call-up to the first team for the City game, but it wasn’t the Dutchman who broke the news.
“I was doing an interview and the journalist asked me, ‘You’re going to be involved on Sunday, how do you feel about that?’ and I just said, ‘I’m going to be involved?’ He mentioned the manager had said it during his press conference and I just went, ‘Oh wow’.”
Then the excitement took hold. “I didn’t really sleep much the night before – I kept dreaming about different scenarios, and then at the pre-match meal I kept looking at my watch.”
Time ticked towards 90 minutes of Sunday, January 15’s lunchtime kick-off and Goodison Park was rocking as Everton steamrollered City. It was time to unleash their secret weapon.
“I was on the pitch with Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero,” he excitedly tells FFT, “and I was thinking, ‘This is actually where I am’. It’s crazy.”
Minutes later he was in the grips of a Lukaku bear hug, celebrating his goal amid a din of clapping and cheering.
“My team-mates and coaches gave me a round of applause as I walked into the dressing and signed my shirt – it was a great moment,” he gushes.
It wasn’t until he was on his way home that the size of his achievement really hit him. “We stopped at some traffic lights and my family said, ‘You can scream now’ – and I did,” says the England Under-20 international.
When he attempts to explain his rapid rise he pauses for thought, and delivers a response that belies his tender years.
“Some academy players don’t necessarily enjoy their football,” he says. “They have to deal with the expectations of the club – they are trying to prove themselves and when a coach says that’s not good enough, that can be pretty tough for a young player to take.
“I always played with my mates. It’s what I enjoyed and my love for the game grew. In comparison, maybe their love for the game deteriorated.”
Lookman has to go, but FFT has one more question: does he hope to emulate the achievements of fellow non-league graduate Jamie Vardy?
“He won the Premier League and plays for England so it does makes you think, ‘Why can’t that be me?’ But Jamie Vardy is Jamie Vardy. I’m Ademola Lookman, and I’ll write my own story.”
“I’VE WATCHED THE GOAL 100 TIMES. WHEN THE BALL CAME TO ME, I THOUGHT, ‘I’M ONE-ON-ONE WITH THE GOALKEEPER, I CAN ACTUALLY SCORE’”