Ademola Lookman chooses England over Nigeria

    Around the world, there are a big number of young and talented footballers with Nigerian descent and some of them are already making an impact for the clubs they are playing in. One of these young men is Ademola Lookman, born in England to Nigerian parents. He is eligible to play for both England and Nigeria.

    In his international career so far, he has played for the England U-19, U-20 and U-21 teams.  He has won the U-20 World Cup in South Korea with the young Lions team, featuring in all six matches. At one point, a couple of years ago, he was approached by the Nigerian Head Coach Gernot Rohr who wanted Lookman to play for the Super Eagles in the future. Since then, playing for Nigeria has been a realistic option for the young Everton forward.

    Lookman joined the Charlton Academy in 2014 and advanced quickly to be included in the senior squad from 2015. He spent three years playing for Charlton where he had 49 appearances in all competitions scoring 12 goals in the process.

    Ademola Lookman (Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com)

    Ademola Lookman (Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com)

    In January 2017, Ademola signed for Everton on a four and a half year deal which would keep him with the Toffees until 2022. He didn’t get consistent play time so manager Sam Allardyce decided to send him out on loan in January 2018 so he could get some regular playing time. Lookman ended up playing for the German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, where he had 11 appearances in which he scored five goals. Overall, he has had 28 appearances for Everton, during which time he found the net three times. This season, he has made six appearances for Everton in the Premier League and one in the League Cup. He is yet to score.

    In the last several days, a few news sources have reported that Ademola Lookman has confirmed he would be playing for England in the future if he was called up, snubbing the Super Eagles in the process. And only two months ago, it looked a certainty that he would switch to play for the Super Eagles. It went as far as Coach Gernot Rohr asking the Nigerian Football Federation to start the paperwork.

    But, something has changed and Lookman has assured the England U-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd that he wants to play for England. The England manager has revealed that he uses this whole story about him switching allegiance to joke around with the youngster and ask him “why he would ever leave the English side”. England U-21 squad took on the Denmark U-21 squad in a friendly on Tuesday evening. England won 5:1 and Lookman didn’t make the 18-man squad.