Former Leicester City loanee Ademola Lookman has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, but things could’ve been a different story had the Foxes signed him permanently.
After an excellent season, ex-Foxes loanee Ademola Lookman has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or.
Lookman has been nothing short of exceptional since joining Atalanta and scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 Europa League final win against Bayer Leverkusen in May 2024.
The winger was nominated in the list of 30 along with the likes of Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham and Rodri for football’s biggest individual prize.
Given his excellent form, it’s another feeling of ‘what could’ve been’ for Leicester City, who will rue their missed opportunity to sign him permanently.
Brendan Rodgers explains why Ademola Lookman didn’t join Leicester permanently
Following an excellent 2021-2022 campaign with the Foxes, Brendan Rodgers was keen to bring Lookman back to the King Power Stadium permanently.
However, during an interview with TalkSPORT in May, the former Leicester boss revealed that money played a factor.
He said: “The only sad part for us [at Leicester] was that, at the end of that season, we could have bought him for £14m but you think back to that summer, we couldn’t sign any players.
“One of my guys who I worked closely with at Celtic and Leicester is a guy called Lee Congerton and by then Lee was the general manager of Atalanta.
“When he knew that we weren’t able to take him, he took him then to Atalanta and he has done absolutely brilliant there.”
Lookman scored eight goals in 42 appearances while on loan in the east midlands and his presence would ultimately be missed as the Foxes suffered relegation to the Championship and Rodgers was sacked.
READ MORE: Leicester City’s best XI after transfer window shuts includes two summer signings
When is the Ballon d’Or 2024 awards?
The 2024 edition of the Ballon d’Or awards will take place on Monday 28 October at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
This will be the 68th edition of the event, with Lookman the only current/former Leicester player among the nominations.
The full list is:
- Jude Bellingham (England, Real Madrid)
- Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Türkiye, Inter)
- Dani Carvajal (Spain, Real Madrid)
- Rúben Dias (Portugal, Manchester City)
- Artem Dovbyk (Ukraine, Dnipro / Girona / Roma)
- Phil Foden (England, Manchester City)
- Alejandro Grimaldo (Spain, Bayer Leverkusen)
- Erling Haaland (Norway, Manchester City)
- Mats Hummels (Germany, Borussia Dortmund)
- Harry Kane (England, Bayern Munich)
- Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid)
- Ademola Lookman (Nigeria, Atalanta)
- Emiliano Martínez (Argentina, Aston Villa)
- Lautaro Martínez (Argentina, Inter )
- Kylian Mbappé (France, Paris Saint-Germain / Real Madrid)
- Martin Ødegaard (Norway, Arsenal)
- Dani Olmo (Spain, Leipzig / Barcelona)
- Cole Palmer (England, Manchester City / Chelsea)
- Declan Rice (England, Arsenal)
- Rodri (Spain, Manchester City)
- Antonio Rüdiger (Germany, Real Madrid)
- Bukayo Saka (England, Arsenal)
- William Saliba (France, Arsenal)
- Federico Valverde (Uruguay, Real Madrid)
- Vinícius Júnior (Brazil, Real Madrid)
- Vitinha (Portugal, Paris Saint-Germain)
- Nico Williams (Spain, Athletic Club)
- Florian Wirtz (Germany, Bayer Leverkusen)
- Granit Xhaka (Switzerland, Bayer Leverkusen)
- Lamine Yamal (Spain, Barcelona)