A player that failed to really make his mark whilst on loan at Leicester City is now valued at £51 million by his club amid Premier League interest.
Leicester City are gearing up for their return to the Premier League having won the Championship under Enzo Maresca last season.
With Maresca leaving for Chelsea earlier this month, Steve Cooper has now been appointed as the man to replace the Argentine and will be casting his eye over the squad in pre-season as he looks to avoid relegation.
Given Leicester’s financial difficulties and the upcoming Premier League PSR deadline of 30th June, the club may have to sell one or two valuable assets.
With that in mind, it will sting that a player who was on loan at the club in the 2021/22 season is now being valued at £51 million.
Former Leicester City loanee Ademola Lookman valued at £51 million
Ademola Lookman spent the season on loan at Leicester in 2021/22 and started just 16 league games in an indifferent spell.
However, he is now at Italian club Atalanta and is fresh off the back of an incredible hat-trick in the Europa League final as his club beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 to lift the trophy.
That performance – alongside the Nigeria international’s impressive displays in Seria A – has piqued the interest of a number of Premier League clubs.
However, according to Italian outlet Calcio Mercato, a return to the English top flight would cost around £51 million.
The report states that Atalanta’s philosophy ‘is not to say no to irrefutable offers’, however they will not sanction the sale of both Lookman and Teun Koopmeiners – who they value at the same fee – in the same summer.
Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are listed as the interested clubs, with each ‘willing to make an offer close to €60 million (£51m)’.
Premier League return would continue Lookman’s strange career path
Lookman has had an unorthodox career.
The winger played under Brendan Rodgers at Leicester on loan from RB Leipzig; the German club he had joined after spells at Charlton Athletic and Everton.
Lookman spent the 2020/21 season on loan at Fulham from Leipzig where he is remembered most for attempting a Panenka penalty in the last kick of the game in a 1-0 defeat to West Ham United that was easily saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
Fulham were relegated that season and Lookman secured another season-long loan at Leicester.
Although he only started 16 league games for the Foxes he did manage six goals.
Then-manager Rodgers was keen to sign the speedster despite his failure to really pull up any trees at the King Power.
Speaking to talkSPORT in May, Rogers reflected on the club’s inability to sign Lookman in summer 2022 as he said: “The only sad part for us [at Leicester] was that, at the end of that season, we could have bought him for £14 million but you think back to that summer, we couldn’t sign any players.
“What a professional he is, the way he looks after himself, the extra work he does in training.
“Those goals that he scored, he practices those after training, he would always do extra training. His professionalism was unbelievable.”
Now, there is a real possibly that Lookman joins a Premier League giant this summer just two years after Leicester missed out and for almost four times the amount they could have signed him for.
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