Ademola Lookman: ‘It’s good to have a manager like Simeone’

When a creative attacking player joins Atlético Madrid, it can often seem a gamble. Faced with the intensity of a coach who demands that his team operates as a unit, in attack or in defence, some players withdraw, lose interest, grow frustrated. But others thrive.

In the case of Ademola Lookman, it most definitely the latter. With five goals and four assists across his first 14 appearances, Lookman has already established himself as a regular at a crucial point of the season. Lookman credits his fine start to the man in the dugout, Diego Simeone.

“He’s very intense and very demanding,” Lookman said Thursday at a LALIGA media roundtable, “which is always good to have a manager like this, because you want to push as much as you can every single day. ” Lookman has worked under Gian Piero Gasperini at Atalanta, who led one of the most physically demanding systems in European football, and he left that experience having won the Europa League and been named African Footballer of the Year for 2024. He arrived at Atlético not needing to be rebuilt, but still wanting more.

Simeone is giving him that. “Above all, he scores goals, in principle, he scores more goals than he contributes to the build-up play, so he can improve in terms of his play and defensive work,” Simeone said shortly after Lookman’s arrival in February. “We need him to adapt to the way the team operates in that area, and I can see he’s enthusiastic and keen to improve.