He bounced back with the suddenness of flashes from Italian paparazzi.

When Ademola Lookman won the 2024 CAF African soccer player of the year award, not many remembered that a prophecy had been made years back. After Fulham was relegated at the end of the 2020/2021 English Premiership soccer season, Aleksandar Mitrovic said the entire team had failed. Ademola Lookman was part of the team and he couldn’t agree any less with the assessment. But four years later, Lookman rose to become Africa’s soccer player of the year, in one of the game’s most remarkable comeback event. Here is the short story behind Lookman’s redemption.

Ademola Lookman took 14th position at the 2024 Ballon d’Or award in Paris and his
2024 CAF African soccer player of the year award completed his comeback from the depths of defeat, fulfilling Scot Parker, his former manager’s prophetic statement that his star would rise again.

In 2020, Scot Parker was Fulham’s manager and he made a number of remarks regarding Lookman. Parker’s comments came in the aftermath of a disastrous penalty miss by Lookman in a game against West Ham in November, forcing the manager to say: “my emotions are one of disappointment, anger a little bit. He’s a young player and when you are young you make mistakes. And you need to learn from them. That’s where Ade is tonight.” Scott Parker also added that Ademola Lookman needed to, in his own words, “dust himself down.”

Lookman had made a reputation for himself as a terrible penalty taker and he needed to go out of his way to remake his standing in the eyes of the world. And what a dusting down Lookman has done to himself in just over four years! He bounced back with the suddenness of flashes from Italian paparazzi. Enter his comeback sequence.

In 2022, Lookman worked hard and signed for Atalanta soccer club of Italy. In 2023, he won silver with the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the African Cup of Nations tournament in Ivory Coast. A year later, he won Africa’s best player of the year award, edging out heavyweights including Ronwen Williams, Achraf Hakimi, Simon Adingra, and Serhou Guirassy. On May 22, 2024, Lookman won the UEFA Europa League.

While receiving his CAF African player of the year award, in Marrakech, Morocco, Lookman said, “just over four years ago, I failed in front of the world,’’ adding, “And fast forward four years, I’m the best player in Africa.”

Scot Parker, England’s former midfielder, certainly had an inkling of what was to come when he made a prophetic statement about Lookman, saying: “He’ll bounce back, he’s an unbelievable character and professional.”

And he did it.

“Kudos Ademola! So Proud of You,” Atalanta said in the aftermath of Lookman’s triumph.