Tonight, Ademola Lookman will lead the strike force of Atalanta against perennial Scottish champions Celtic in continuation of the UEFA Champions League.
However, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has now revealed just how close he came to signing the Super Eagles star before he went on to become a big star in the Italian Serie A.
“How close was he to signing? Close in the fact that he was really excited by the project of Celtic. I met him in a hotel in London and we were looking to convince him to come. Sadly, we just couldn’t get to the levels that Charlton wanted for him,” Rodgers opened up.
“But the club did everything they possibly could at that time. He was at Charlton at the time, he wanted to join a big club. He didn’t feel those pressures and everything of why a player would want to come to Celtic.
“Charlton clearly were wanting to get as much as they possibly could for him. We spoke to him, from a personal perspective. It was a move that should have helped him and his representatives. He was very clear on that
“But obviously it was a financial sum in the end. I think he went from maybe £11 million or something to Everton. It just drifted away from us. Financially it was a challenge on the fee. But wages and everything else the club could do. The player was keen in that moment. That’s as close as it got.
“We’ve stayed in contact and he’s such a good guy, brilliant player. We wanted to sign him at Leicester at the time, with the chance to take him. But sadly we couldn’t sign any players that summer. Lee Congestion (the former Celtic recruitment chief now in Italy) then took him here to Atalanta. He’s now a club legend.”
Rodgers said he is not surprised how big a star Ademola Lookman has since become.
“He’s an absolutely brilliant young player. We stayed in contact and when I was at Leicester, we wanted to bring in another winger and inquired about his availability when he was at Red Bull,” he said.
“And he came in and he was absolutely brilliant for me in that season, he was there, he scored some outstanding goals. I remember a great individual goal against Liverpool.
“I’m so proud of him and the career that he’s had because he’s a young guy who came out of London and wasn’t scared to travel. Going to Germany at the time and obviously coming up to the northwest of England, to Everton.
“When he came to Leicester, you could see everything he was. He leads his life in the right way. Everything is geared towards being the best he can be. Watching him in that Europa League final, the goals he scored were not by accident.
“He practiced that every day of his life where he could. He would be out with a bag of balls, doing shooting exercises long after everyone else had gone in. Working on his right foot and left foot. “He’s so balanced. He can shoot up his right foot the same as his left foot. He’s an absolutely incredible young professional. To see him score the hat-trick in the final last year was absolutely amazing.”
