Leicester Considering Ademola Lookman For Permanent Stay

Ademola Lookman impressed manager Brendan Rodgers again to take another step towards earning a permanent switch to Leicester City.

Megasportsarena.com reports that the on-loan winger was handed his first start in nine matches against Crystal Palace and took his chance, collecting Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s pass and firing past Vicente Guaita to open the scoring. Lookman has now moved his goal tally to seven for the season and is closing in on the double-figure mark that Rodgers challenged him to reach last month.

But beyond that, Rodgers was also extremely pleased by his off-the-ball work in the victory over Palace, Lookman buying into the high-pressing style the manager wants from his City side. With the summer closing in, conversations at the club about Lookman’s future, and a potential permanent transfer from RB Leipzig, will become more frequent, and Rodgers’ high praise suggests he is under serious consideration.

“I thought he was excellent,” Rodgers said after the 2-1 victory on Sunday. “I think that with Ade, he’s been unfortunate, because Barnesy’s played on the left side, so I’ve had to play him on the right. But it’s pretty clear the level he gets to on the left side is higher than the right.

“I was more pleased with his aggression. He’s a talent, but what he was today was competitive, and that’s what you need to be at the highest level.

“I thought overall his football quality was very good. He makes a great movement and scores a great goal. But for me, he was aggressive, he was pressing, he was counter-pressing, and then he showed those moments of quality. So I thought he was excellent.”

Lookman has now made 20 starts for the Foxes, and 33 appearances in total. As well as his seven goals, he has five assists to his name.

He was one of seven fresh faces introduced to the team for the victory over Palace, and of that septet, he may have the best shot at keeping his place for the Europa Conference League quarter-final second leg against PSV Eindhoven on Thursday, with Harvey Barnes his rival for the position.