To think we have had Gomez, Lookman, Konsa and Pope come through the club in recent years. Superstars the lot but this performance by Lookman takes some beating. Great talent, was a joy to watch whilst he was with us. Still remember reading the link to that non league football.site he wrote his bio on whilst looking for a professional club!
What a performance tonight from our boy, downing Xavi Alonso’s hitherto invincibles. Time for Big Sam to reflect upon his castigation of a teenager for declining to join Derby in favour of the Bundesliga.
Delighted for Ademola - a great player and a lovely, humble young man.
Absolutely stunned. And so happy for him. This is his reward for not being able to represent us on some of our own magical nights, like the win at Cray Valley Paper Mills. I'm glad he gets a great night too.
Sorry but Ademola Lookman is 100% not a Charlton product
We signed him aged 17
I stand by the fact you need to have spent the formative part of your teenage years to be claimed as a productive of that team.
We are an ex team of Lookman but he is a product of the Waterloo team
As much as Aribo is the product of the Staines team
Not a popular opinion but one I will stand by.
We taught him some stuff, but by age 17 majority of the football ability he already had and we can't claim came from us
This isn't black and white, players join the academy at different times, from very young ages right up to signing for our u21s from other clubs as young pros.
Lookman was identified, signed and developed in our academy and played for us at u18 and u21 level before breaking into our first team. We took a chance on him when other clubs didn't.
It's right for it to be celebrated even if we can't take as much credit compared to a player who was with us at a much younger age.
What a performance tonight from our boy, downing Xavi Alonso’s hitherto invincibles. Time for Big Sam to reflect upon his castigation of a teenager for declining to join Derby in favour of the Bundesliga.
Delighted for Ademola - a great player and a lovely, humble young man.
So happy for Lookman! Mentioned this before but i'm a year older than Lookman, and played against him for Balham Blazers v Waterloo fc when he was 16. He scored 5 or 6 and we lost 11-1... Good times! I think Charlton signed him not too long after
His coach at Waterloo, a chap called Felix, since the age of 9 and the man that Ademola calls his second "Dad" has just been on the pitch with him and then interviewed afterwards. Great to see.
In my opinion, Ademola is a story all about a player that would have been rejected by umpteen clubs before we gave him that chance. We played a big part because we gave him that opportunity to shine whereas other clubs didn't. In some respects, though, not coming through a pro academy system has, actually, been a plus in the same way as it was for Michail Antonio (weird coincidence that both were born in Wandsworth only played junior football before signing for Tooting at 17 and then Reading a few months later) as he talked about the individualism that he possessed not having been drilled out of him. It meant that they would lose the ball in areas that would make some coaches despair but they weren't afraid to do the extraordinary. It's that ability to do the extraordinary that marks them out as different and people will always buy different rather than the same.
Absolutely stoked for Lookman. We may not have trained him out of Sparrows Lane but we believed in him to give him a big chance. I am glad to have witnessed him playing at The Valley and I hope we have more Lookmans coming through our youth ranks.
Comments
Still remember reading the link to that non league football.site he wrote his bio on whilst looking for a professional club!
Delighted for Ademola - a great player and a lovely, humble young man.
We signed him aged 17
I stand by the fact you need to have spent the formative part of your teenage years to be claimed as a productive of that team.
We are an ex team of Lookman but he is a product of the Waterloo team
As much as Aribo is the product of the Staines team
Not a popular opinion but one I will stand by.
We taught him some stuff, but by age 17 majority of the football ability he already had and we can't claim came from us
Lookman was identified, signed and developed in our academy and played for us at u18 and u21 level before breaking into our first team. We took a chance on him when other clubs didn't.
It's right for it to be celebrated even if we can't take as much credit compared to a player who was with us at a much younger age.
In my opinion, Ademola is a story all about a player that would have been rejected by umpteen clubs before we gave him that chance. We played a big part because we gave him that opportunity to shine whereas other clubs didn't. In some respects, though, not coming through a pro academy system has, actually, been a plus in the same way as it was for Michail Antonio (weird coincidence that both were born in Wandsworth only played junior football before signing for Tooting at 17 and then Reading a few months later) as he talked about the individualism that he possessed not having been drilled out of him. It meant that they would lose the ball in areas that would make some coaches despair but they weren't afraid to do the extraordinary. It's that ability to do the extraordinary that marks them out as different and people will always buy different rather than the same.