Why I couldn’t sign Lookman at Leicester City — Brendan Rodgers

Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers has revealed his regret over his inability to sign Ademola Lookman on a permanent deal during their short stint at Leicester City in the 2021/22 season.

Lookman was Atalanta’s hero against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Europa League final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Wednesday, May 22. The Super Eagles winger scored a hat-trick to guide Atalanta to their first trophy in 61 years, whilst ending Leverkusen’s 51 matches unbeaten run.

Such a historic feat has been a long time coming for Lookman, who according to Rodgers came clutch for Leicester during his loan spell at the King Power Stadium.

The 26-year-old scored eight times in 42 appearances for the Foxes, but the club couldn’t sign him on a permanent contract largely due to the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations concerns.

“The only sad part for us [at Leicester] was that, at the end of that season, we could have bought him for £14 million but you think back to that summer, we couldn’t sign any players,” Rodgers told TalkSport.

“One of my guys who I worked closely with at Celtic and Leicester is a guy called Lee Congerton and by then Lee was the general manager of Atalanta.

“When he knew that we weren’t able to take him, he took him then to Atalanta and he has done absolutely brilliant there so I am so happy, the goals he scored! Especially the second and third ones.

“He scored some massive goals for me at Leicester, he scored the winning goal in a game against Liverpool at home, it was a brilliant individual goal.

“But I am so, so pleased for him because he has travelled the world to be the best player that he can be and I am so happy he has flourished his talents on such a big occasion.”

The 51-year-old continued on Lookman’s historic performance in the UEL final, “I was so, so happy for him watching the game last night. I go back to my first night here at Celtic, I met Ade when he knew he was going to leave Charlton.

“We had looked to get him up here at the time but it was so early in the window that by the time the window finished, we couldn’t afford him.

“The money was too much and he ended up going to Everton. We always kept in contact so when I was at Leicester and he was at Red Bull [Leipzig], we had the chance to take him on loan.”

Following his selection to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Team of the Tournament in recognition of his role in Nigeria’s run to the final, Lookman has a stronger shot than ever at winning the 2024 CAF Player of the Year award.