Ademola Lookman, the 2024 Africa Footballer of the year, told the world in Marrakech Morocco on Monday how his career journey to the top is painted with some bad moments and how he used those moments to gain extra strength.
He chronicled how the pains of those bad moments helped to shape him into who he is today.
“Four years ago my career fell down, but now I’m here as the best player in Africa.
” Don’t let your failures stop your dreams , to the youth I say never give up , turn your pain to power ”
Truly, Ademola Lookman journey has never been smooth. He had a fairly great season with Charlton, his first senior debut club way back in 2015.
His 12 goals in 49 appearances attracted Everton who came to pick him up for 11mullion pounds in January 2017, a huge sum for a 19 year old.
He joined the big league with lots of expectations but he failed to impress, after raising the bar of expectations on himself by scoring on his debut in the 4-0 drubbing of Manchester City.
His time at the Goodison park is better forgotten, but he managed to show why he is the one for the future after playing a prominent role in England U20 side who conquered the World in 2017.
He moved to RB Leipzig in 2018 on loan and then secured a permanent deal in 2019.
A journey which saw him return to England on another loan spell with Fulham and Leicester City with average performances and rare superlative performance despite all the hard work he put in training.
He never deterred as he continued to work his up and continue his search for a better route to the top.
He switched allegiance to Nigeria and moved to Bergamo Italy to join Atalanta. These two moves changed his story for good.
He started his Super Eagles career with the disappointment of not qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Ademola Lookman did not allow the disappointment to wear him down and step his performance up in the team to become a key player for the Super Eagles.
He propelled the team to a podium finish at the Africa Cup of Nations while he was the face of the Europa League conquering Atalanta FC side by becoming the first player to score Hattrick in the final of the competition.
All the efforts of the last four years culminated into a great night for him in Marrakech, where he made himself, his parents and Nigeria proud by becoming the sixth Nigerian to win the CAF men Africa footballer Of the year award.
” There are a lot of special moments that happened this year, I can speak about a lot of good moments. But also the bad moments, when you don’t want to go to the gym, but you end up doing that session and that gives you more strength. The difficult moments have given me that extra strength.” He told the cheering crowds after he picked his award.
He was accompanied by his Dad and Mum and had some world for them and everyone who stood firm and believed in him during those bad moments
“I am very appreciative of your love and care, and kind words in the bad moments also, not just the good moments. The people who show you love in the difficult moments are the people who you are most grateful too.”
Life is all about goods and bad and rise and fall moments.
Every moment has a reason and lesson, stay humble and remain focused while enjoying the good and rising moments and never give up when the bad and falling moments show up.
Rather turn up and turn the pain to power, emulate Ademola Lookman
