Atletico Madrid of Spain winger, Ademola Lookman has been cited as the star who was born in London but will play a key role in sending his boyhood rival club, Arsenal of England packing from the UEFA Champions League.
Sports247 reports that, heading into Wednesday’s first leg semi-final clash in Madrid, the British media is agog with memories of how Lookman was born on October 20th, 1997 to Nigerian parents in Wandsworth, Greater London.
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The 28-year-old Super Eagles’ star, whose full name is Ademola Lookman Olajade Alade Ayoola, attended St Thomas the Apostle College in Nunhead where he achieved three asterisks As and five normal As in his GCSE certificate.
However, rather than seek a career with Arsenal, who are regarded as London’s most popular English Premier League club, Lookman made his senior debut for one of their rivals, Charlton Athletic in 2015, though in the Championship.
He then signed for Everton in January 2017, following which he had two spells with RB Leipzig of Germany, then returned to England on loan at both Fulham and Leicester City, before getting a belated career breakthrough at Atalanta of Italy.
After joining Atalanta in 2022, ‘Mola’ won the UEFA Europa League with the Bergamo-based Serie A outfit in 2024, scoring a hat-trick in the final against Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, and he is now aiming the UCL title with Atletico Madrid.
Standing in Lookman’s way is the same Arsenal he observed at close quarters but avoided as a kid, and the British media has tagged him ‘the boy from south of the river trying to break the hearts of the North Londoners.’
A report by UK’s Sun Sport noted in part, “Ademola Lookman was brought up in Wandsworth and has played for four English clubs. Yet the nomadic forward has done his best during spells with RB Leipzig, Atalanta and now Atletico Madrid.
“Lookman’s career has hardly been conventional, growing up playing cage football before he was scouted by Charlton while playing for Waterloo FC, based in Lambeth. Despite playing for England Under-21s, he is a key player for Nigeria.
“In 2024, he was nominated for the Ballon d’Or after also being crowned the best player in Africa. It has been a stunning rise for the player who Karl Robinson gave a professional debut to for Charlton against MK Dons in November 2015.
“Last summer, Inter Milan looked to sign him for £39m but Atalanta did not want to sell to a rival, leaving Lookman livid. An agreement was reached that he could join a team away from Italy, which is why he signed for Atleti at the turn of the year.
“Lookman joined the Spanish side in a £30m January move from Atalanta. Although he missed the last two games with a knee injury, he hopes to return against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final first leg.”
Asked about his impending showdown with Arsenal across two legs in the UCL semi-finals, starting this midweek in Madrid, Lookman said: “For me, it’s emotional. I grew up in London. So, it’s a very special match. What I want is to win.”
