Reigning African Player of The Year, Ademola Lookman, skipped Atalanta’s training on Monday, signalling his intention to force his way out of the club.
The Nigerian has been the subject of transfer interest from 2025 Champions League finalists Inter Milan, who have recently seen a bid of €45m including bonuses turned down by Atalanta.
Atalanta seem unwilling to bend their stance and sell Lookman to their league rivals, Inter Milan, due to an initial agreement with the player.
In reaction, the player skipped training on Monday after lashing out at the club’s hierarchy on Sunday.
“Ademola Lookman didn’t show up for training today as he keeps insisting on his plan to leave Atalanta. Atalanta maintains their position. No way to let him go for €42m plus €3m proposal rejected last week. No fresh bid from Inter so far,” transfer expert Fabrizio Romano posted.
Lookman announced that he had submitted an official transfer request on Sunday, as the relationship between him and the club had degenerated over the lingering transfer.
Atalanta, meanwhile, have stood firm with their valuation of €50m, and after seeing Inter’s most recent bid turned down, Lookman took to Instagram to release a statement sharing his version of events and explaining why he has decided to submit a formal transfer request.
The former Fulham, Leicester, Everton and RB Leipzig forward believes that “it is the right time to move on and experience a new adventure,” but has accused Atalanta of “blocking the opportunity for reasons I do not understand.”
In the wake of Lookman’s outburst, Atalanta said they aren’t surprised by his move, having seen him delete everything associated with them on social media a day before.
The club’s CEO, Luca Percassi, has also confirmed that the club have an agreement to allow Lookman to leave this summer, but not for teams within Serie A.
“It’s a good opportunity to clarify what happened,” Percassi told the media, via TMW.
“Last year, after a €20m offer from PSG, the player had asked us to be sold.
“Atalanta, being a credible club, had promised to sell the player this window based on two conditions that he himself had asked of us. First, to go to a super, top European club, and that he would never be seen in Italy wearing a shirt other than Atalanta’s, given what he did for the club and what he received from the club.
“Today, as you know, the situation is very different. The club is always careful when evaluating the value and timing of its players, but as always, it is Atalanta, the club, that decides.”
Another club statement added that the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ Lookman referred to were made when PSG approached last summer.
“The promises to which the player refers in his long outburst were born first of all from a gentleman’s agreement and are not based on any written clause. But above all, they are related to a year ago, when there was only a fleeting confrontation with PSG, from which a real negotiation was not born because the figure assumed by the Parisian club was significantly lower than the expectations of Atalanta.”
Credit: punchng.com
