Everton Reject RB Leipzig Bid for Wonderkid Attacker
By Tom Power
Toffees harbour no interest in selling Lookman to German giants
Everton have rebuffed a £12m offer from RB Leipzig for talented forward Ademola Lookman.
Lookman spent the second half of last season on loan at the Bundesliga club and they had hoped to prise him away from Merseyside permanently.
However, a report from the Liverpool Echo has alleged that the Toffees have rejected the bid outright.
Everton want to hand Lookman more first-team opportunities under new manager Marco Silva after he was somewhat frozen out last term.
The 20-year-old struggled to feature regularly under Ronald Koeman or Sam Allardyce despite his superb World Cup Under-20 performances 12 months ago.
That led to Lookman eyeing a temporary stint away from Goodison Park – a loan switch that took him to Germany with Leipzig.
He impressed during his time there, with five goals and four assists accrued in just 11 appearances.
Leipzig director of football Ralf Rangnick had made mention of his desire to try and sign Lookman permanently following his impressive six-month spell.
Everton, though, wish to utilise Lookman’s talents themselves and have issued a huge ‘hands off’ warning to their European counterparts.
Silva and Blues director of football Marcel Brands are big fans of the Charlton Athletic trainee’s talents.
And the pair want him to compete for a starting berth out wide alongside the likes of Theo Walcott and Yannick Bolasie.
Lookman has shone in spells in Everton’s first team but his inconsistent form – down to his age – means he hasn’t had a lengthy run of starts.
That could now change with Silva in charge, with the Portuguese boss insisting he will give youth a chance at Goodison during his tenure.
Lookman has the pace, skill, eye for goal and unpredictability to be a gem in Everton’s side and Evertonians have wanted to see more of him.
That will hopefully come in an Blues jersey and it would be mad for the Toffees to let him leave in any form this summer.
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Under the guidance of Silva and his coaching staff, Lookman could finally have that standout breakthrough campaign in L4.