Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has revealed his happiness over the performance of Ademola Lookman for Atalanta in the Europa League final, where his hattrick handed them a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Lookman played for England at various youth levels before deciding to switch to Nigeria at senior level in 2021. He has since gone on to have 21 caps for the Super Eagles with six goals. Three of which came at the last Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.
He was by far the star of the Nigerian team, and he followed it up with another impressive performance for Atalanta capped with his extraordinary performance in the final. Not forgetting that he was voted the man of the match in the semi final.
Speaking on the process of convincing the 26 year old to play for Nigeria, Rohr who held talks with the then RB Leipzig winger said it’s unfortunate that he was no longer in charge when his international clearance came through.
Rohr said: ” Lookman was in my preliminary squad for the AFCON in Cameroon before I was sacked from my role as coach. The talks happened with him while he was playing in Germany for RB Leipzig. It was straightforward and I was keen to have him in my team, but I left before he was cleared”.
The coach went on to explain how other players like Ebere Eze, Michael Olise and Nathan Tella were approached to play for the Super Eagles. ” Olise I invited but his agent had other ideas for him. For Eze I am happy he is making progress with England after training with us. He was very young then and not having the best of time in his club football.
” When he finally reached the level of a call up, we extended one to him but he picked England U21. As for Tella his switch came through when I was still in charge, but his form wasn’t at the level of a call up just like Chuba Akpom who is now doing well for Ajax”.
Osas Mahawi
