Revealed: The key role Dele Alli played in Ademola Lookman’s career

Dele Alli and Ademola Lookman. Copyright: Imago

Super Eagles attacker Ademola Lookman played for several English clubs before getting his breakthrough at Atalanta, but former Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli played a key role in his rise, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 2024 CAF Player of the Year broke through from Charlton Athletic, before joining Everton for €8.8m in January 2017.

He spent a year with the Toffees before jetting out to sign for RB Leipzig on a season-long loan.

He’d eventually join the German side permanently in 2019, although loan spells to Fulham and Leicester City followed before he found his feet at Atalanta in the summer of 2022.

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While Lookman was on the rise at Charlton, Dele Alli had just made the big move to Tottenham Hotspur from MK Dons, where he’d go on to make a name for himself.

Prior to Lookman’s Everton move, his coach at the time, Karl Robinson, worked with Dele Alli in his time at MK Dons. The 45-year-old revealed he thought it was best to take the Nigerian along to have a discussion with someone like Alli, who’d walked the same ropes Lookman was about to.

““He [Lookman] is a real diamond and his attitude was always excellent. But his story is incredible,” Robinson said in quotes revealed by The Sun UK.

“This is not someone who had played for a club’s academy but a lad who was spotted playing on Hackney Marshes.

“He has ended up playing for Charlton in the Premier League and then Atalanta. He’s scored a hat-trick in a European final and then was voted African player of the year. And now he is in Madrid.

“When we did a deal at Charlton for him to go to Everton, it was worth up to £11million for the club,” the 45-year-old concluded.

Dele Alli did agree to meet a teenage Lookman and gave him some words of advice to help navigate life as a professional footballer, given that they share some Nigerian heritage.

“I drove him to Chigwell near Tottenham’s training ground and took him for lunch with Dele Alli, who I used to manage at MK Dons.

“I wanted him to speak to Dele, who knew what it was like going from an EFL side to a Premier League club.

“Dele knew what obstacles would be in the way and the type of pressure he would have to deal with.

“Ademola sat and listened carefully and it was obvious he would make it to the top.

“His last game for us was on Boxing Day 2016 against MK Dons, and he scored the winner. He then gave me his shirt. That sums him up,” Karl Robinson confirmed.

While Dele soared at Spurs, his career after didn’t amount to what his initial potential predicted. He played for Everton, Besiktas, and Como 1907, but is currently a free agent.

Lookman, meanwhile, after all of his troubles in England, rose to prominence in Atalanta, winning the UEFA Europa League, the CAF Player of the Year, and taking home a 14th-place Ballon d’Or ranking, before joining Atletico Madrid in the winter transfer window.

Adefolahan Guerreiro

Adefolahan is a multilingual sports journalist and football writer whose work spans outlets like Soccernet Nigeria, Pure Football UK, and Royalsportz.

With a sharp eye for detail and a background in college sports, he tells the African football story with depth, flair, and global perspective.

Fluent in English, Spanish, and German, he brings a cross-cultural voice to his coverage, blending insight with accessibility for readers around the world.
His portfolio includes interviews with top Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, Sikiru Alimi, Sodiq Ismaila, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.

A devoted Borussia Dortmund fan, Adefolahan thrives on the emotion and rhythm of the beautiful game. Away from work, he’s a sci-fi enthusiast and series lover who enjoys exploring how sport, storytelling, and culture collide.