After months of rumours regarding his move away from Atalanta, Ademola Lookman has ultimately moved to La Liga, with Atlético Madrid securing his services for €35m.
Lookman has been one of the more underrated forwards in world football because of his all-around ability and versatility in the final third.
He’s travelled around quite a bit throughout his career, starting out at Charlton Athletic, Everton, RB Leipzig, Fulham, Leicester City, and then Atalanta.
He’s been a star the last few years for both Atalanta and the Nigerian national team.
He helped Atalanta win the Europa League title in 2023/2024 and has registered double-digit goals in each of the past three seasons with the Italian club.
His move to Atlético Madrid is interesting, as he’ll be going to a completely different system from the one that made him great in Italy.
Atlético Madrid are well behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in the La Liga title race and clearly need reinforcements to improve their offence.
In this Ademola Lookman scout report, we analyse Lookman’s dribbling, passing, and shooting, how he will fit tactically in Diego Simeone’s system, and some of his data.
Ademola Lookman Dribbling
Lookman is a rare player in the modern game because of his versatility as a forward.
He primarily played as a left winger in Atalanta’s 3-4-3 system, but would often invert into the left half-space when in possession.
Ademola Lookman Heatmap 2024/2025 At Atalanta
His ball carrying is incredible, not only because he can square up and take defenders on 1v1, but he’s so good in tight spaces.
Because he’s such a good dribbler, he will often attract two defenders, which creates space for his teammates in the box.
Here you can see Royale Union Saint-Gilloise double him when he has the ball in space.
Even if you try to double him, though, he is so good at getting by or creating space for a pass or a shot.
Here, against Fiorentina, they tried to double-up on him, but he dribbled past the defender to reach the byline and send in a cross.
While at Atalanta, he often received the ball from a switch because they were trying to isolate him in space against a defender.
Rarely does Lookman pick up the ball at the halfway line and play vertically with his ball-carrying.
Almost all of it is horizontal, trying to get on his favourite left to get off a shot or getting to the byline to send in a cross.
Ademola Lookman Passing
While everyone loves to talk about Lookman’s dribbling ability, Lookman’s passing is really underrated.
Because he is such a good dribbler, defenders often sit off of him rather than trying to get the ball, in fear of getting beaten.
Lookman often uses that to his advantage, not only the space but also the time he has on the ball, allowing his teammates to get into position so he can feed them.
He is really good on both his left and right foot and can send crosses from the top of the 18-yard box like this.
Or beating defenders to the byline and sending in a cross like the example earlier.
Lookman is also really deadly in transition, but not many teams have given him or Atalanta that option this season.
When he does, he’s really deadly not only because of his pace and ball-carrying ability, but also his ability to play balls in behind.
Here, they earned a 3v2 break against Eintracht Frankfurt, and he made a great pass to set up Éderson for the goal.
Ademola Lookman Shooting
Most of Lookman’s shots come from the left half-space, where he either looks for space to receive the ball or dribbles to create his own shot.
Here is a good example of how good he is in tight spaces, receiving the ball between two defenders, turning, and firing it into the roof of the net from a bad angle.
A lot of times, with wingers, they often settle for shots from outside the box when they cut inside because that is usually what the defenders give them.
Lookman is different because he is always looking to get into the penalty area to get his shot off, which is one of the reasons his xG per 90-minute rate is so high.
Ademola Lookman Shot Chart 2024/2025 At Atalanta
Since he moved to Atalanta, he’s consistently overperformed his expected goals every single season, showing that he is an above-average finisher.
Not only does he create a lot of shots off the dribble, but despite his small stature, he positions himself really well at the back post to score a good chunk of his goals.
Here is a good example against Eintracht Frankfurt.
The other way he gets off a lot of shots or scores a lot of his goals is in transition.
Here against Juventus, he picks the ball up after a high turnover and carries it himself all the way to the 18-yard box, cuts inside, and beats the keeper.
Ademola Lookman Tactical Fit With Atlético Madrid
The move for Lookman is interesting for Atlético Madrid, given that Simeone plays a 4-4-2, so I wonder whether they will have him operate as a left midfielder or as the left forward up top.
Both Julián Álvarez and Alexander Sørloth are comfortable playing either position up top, which could pave a path for Lookman to play as a striker.
In his first match with the club, he played as the left-sided striker alongside Antoine Griezmann.
It was successful because he scored and provided an assist in Atlético’s 5-0 win over Real Betis in the Copa del Rey.
However, he is more than likely going to play left midfielder, a position Simeone has yet to figure out this season.
They spent big money on Alex Baena from Villarreal to be the main left midfielder, but so far, he hasn’t lived up to expectations, scoring just twice and providing one assist in 14 La Liga appearances.
In the last few matches, Nicolás González, who is on loan from Juventus, has started at left mid, but hasn’t produced much of anything.
By signing Lookman, Atlético Madrid now have a player who can consistently beat guys off the dribble and effectively send crosses into the box, which is exactly what they need.
They aren’t a team that typically does try to play through the middle of opponents, as Simeone prefers to funnel the ball into wide areas.
Atlético Madrid has only 25% of their attacks coming down the middle of the pitch and 40% on the right-hand side, where they tend to overload.
Having a player like Lookman, who can stretch the field, has great passing range, and can get his own shot, will free up a lot of space and time for the rest of Atlético Madrid’s attackers and should take their attack to the next level.
Ademola Lookman Data
It’s been a bit of a down season for Lookman, who has dealt with injuries and, honestly, was pushing hard for a move away from Atalanta.
Last season, he was one of the best attackers in Serie A, scoring 15 goals and providing 5 assists.
He led Serie A with 7.9 expected assists, was second to his teammate Mateo Retegui in xG + xA per 90 minutes at 0.73, and created 61 chances, which was third in Serie A.
What is really impressive about Lookman is his ball-carrying numbers.
Last season in Serie A, he averaged 4 successful dribbles per 90 minutes and 6.48 touches in the penalty area, both near the top of the league.
Because he is able to free up space with his dribbling, he averaged 1.39 accurate crosses per 90 minutes, which accounted for 25% of Atalanta’s accurate crosses.
He took a really high percentage of Atalanta’s shots last season, averaging 3.4 per 90 minutes (12th in Serie A) and also averaged 1.4 shots on target per 90 minutes.
He’s overperformed his expected goals every season at Atalanta by a pretty considerable margin.
Between Serie A and European competitions, he has scored 52 goals from 41.8 expected goals.
The question is whether he will be able to continue finishing at that high a rate in a new league and tactical system.
Conclusion
The move to Atlético Madrid for Lookman is certainly an interesting one, given that he will be playing a very different role than the one he had at Atalanta.
Lookman may be having a down season and is 28 years old, so you have to wonder if his best days are behind him.
The reality, though, is that Atlético’s attack is way behind both Barça and Real Madrid, so they needed to bring in reinforcements.
Lookman is a really good addition because of his ability to play two different positions on the left side.
In addition, with Álvarez potentially leaving Atlético Madrid this summer, it benefits the squad to already have a potential replacement in-house.
Atlético Madrid are currently 10 points behind Barcelona in the La Liga title race, are in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, and faces Club Brugge in the knockout playoff round of the Champions League.
We will see if Lookman is able to make a big difference in their quest for a trophy this season.
