Ademola Lookmans disappointing stay on Merseyside has come to an end.
Red Bull Leipzig have completed a £22.5 million deal to take him away from Everton and back to the Bundesliga, where he enjoyed a fruitful spell on loan in the second half of the 2017/18 season.
This tactical analysis and scout report will delve into why Everton fans never saw him fulfil his potential at Goodison Park and how he could potentially flourish in Germany.
Disappointment at Everton
Four managers were at the helm during his time at Everton: Marco Silva, Sam Allardyce, David Unsworth, and Ronald Koeman.
Yet Lookman failed to win a regular starting berth under any of these coaches.
Throughout his career, he has averaged a goal every four games in his career.
Thats an excellent return for someone often utilised in wider positions.
Creatively, he has never been prolific, though, with an assist every 10 games.
He also only averages one accurate cross every 180 minutes.
There arent too many wingers playing at the top level with stats like that.
In the 2018 January transfer window, then-Everton manager Sam Allardyce revealed the club did not want to loan him out, but Lookman pushed the deal through.
Before his January transfer window move, he had played in 15 games that season for Everton, seven of these coming in the league.
He made only one league start, and he was substituted at half-time.
He averaged 43 minutes per game that he featured in for the Toffees.
With eight of his games coming in cup ties, Lookman was probably concerned about playing time in the second half of the season.
A loan move in this circumstance made sense, yet Allardyce begrudgingly stated that he hoped Lookman would prove him wrong.
And that he did.
Lookman made 11 appearances in the Bundesliga for RB Leipzig, seven of which came as starts.
He also increased his game time to 54 minutes per game.
In this short spell, Lookman scored five goals and provided one assist.
However, it was toward the end of the season when he hit his stride.
He scored four of his five goals in the last five games and made that single assist.
It was thought he might bring this momentum into the 2018/19 season with Everton.
However, Marco Silva style of play gave him few opportunities.
Despite featuring in 24 games, only five of these were starts, with three coming in the league.
He averaged 40.23 minutes per game he featured in for Everton.
This was less than the season before.
But what was Marco Silva to do?
Lookman wasn’t close to recreating the form he had shown for Leipzig, and he finished the season with one goal and two assists in all competitions for Everton.
It made sense for all parties involved to part ways.
Everton vs RB Leipzig
It’s crucial to analyse the differences between Lookman’s Premier League performances with Everton and those with Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
Regardless of today’s inflated transfer market, £22.5 million is still expensive for someone who scored one goal and made two assists this past season.
Leipzig is paying this fee based on Lookman’s previous performances for the club whilst on loan.
If we compare his statistics as a Leipzig player to those at Everton last season, there is a clear difference.
Leipzig identified that he is not a strong crosser of the ball.
We can see that he w
