Roughly 36 hours until the end of the winter transfer window, Atlético de Madrid have reached an agreement with Atalanta to sign their star forward Ademola Lookman.
Lookman will fly to Madrid on Sunday afternoon for his medical, after which he will put pen to paper on a “long-term” contract to complete a €35 million transfer. According to Rubén Uría, Atleti could pay up to €5 million in bonuses for the Nigeria international; €2 million are considered “easy to achieve.”
Lookman agreed to join Atleti on Saturday night to conclude a transfer saga that included Fenerbahçe, who reportedly offered the 28-year-old a contract worth €11 million per year. But the strong relationship between Atleti and Atalanta won out in the end; this marks the third deal between the two clubs in the past seven months. Fenerbahçe never reached an agreement on payment structure with Atalanta, six months after La Dea flatly refused to sell Lookman to his preferred destination of Inter Milan.
The frustration at not getting his move last summer played out on the pitch in Bergamo. Lookman scored only two goals and provided zero assists over 12 appearances (795 minutes) in Serie A this season, though he was absolutely stellar at the Africa Cup of Nations. The 2024 African Footballer of the Year scored three goals and provided four assists in six games as Nigeria finished third.
Over the past three seasons in Serie A, Lookman established himself as one of Europe’s most dangerous forwards. Between 2022 and 2025, Lookman registered at least 18 goal contributions in three consecutive seasons. He scored a hat-trick in the 2024 Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen; he notched a career-best 20 goals in all competitions last season, including 15 in the Italian league.
An inventive, versatile attacker who thrives when the tempo is high, Lookman is the kind of dribbler from the left wing that Atleti have not signed since Yannick Carrasco. A motivated Lookman could bring a lot to the Rojiblancos; his two-footedness and ability to navigate tight spaces will be golden qualities for Diego Simeone, whose team has suffered from a lack of mental and physical freshness this month.
Lookman’s ability to combine with Álex Baena and Julián Alvarez will be decisive, and his arrival hopefully will help those two players get back into form.