Ademola Lookman proves his worth as Leicester secure a draw against Roma

Leicester City will go into the second leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final with Roma level with the Italian outfit on aggregate after the two sides played out a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium on Thursday evening.

After an impressive start, the Foxes were hit with a sucker punch as Lorenzo Pellegrini converted past Kasper Schmeichel after just 15 minutes to give Jose Mourinho’s side the lead.

It took Brendan Rodgers’ men time to regroup and react to going behind but once they re-found their stride, the hosts were excellent, with winger Ademola Lookman at the heart of most flurries forward.

The winger has found his best form in a Leicester shirt towards the end of his loan spell from RB Leipzig which will certainly be a frustration for Rodgers and the Foxes faithful. However, pushing for a permanent move now seems obvious.

It took the 24-year-old until the end of November to net his first league goal having scored in EFL Cup victories over Millwall and Brighton.

Five months on and the Nigerian has scored another five goals in the top-flight, with two of those coming in the last four matches.

Moreover, it seemed set that Lookman would be awarded credit for Leicester’s second-half equaliser as substitute Harvey Barnes produced a wicked cut-back that found its way into the back of the net via his fellow forward.

However, post-match replays showed that the final touch came off of Roma defender Gianluca Mancini and thus the Italian was credited with an own goal.

Nonetheless, Lookman’s trickery and pace down both flanks was a marvel and cause Mourinho’s side real problems at the back as they looked to preserve their precious lead ahead of next Thursday’s decisive leg in the Italian capital.

But, with just six league matches and potentially two more in the Conference League, the Foxes’ season is rapidly approaching its conclusion and a decision on the Leipzig loanee’s future will have to be made.

From Leicester’s point of view, it should be simple – they will want the Nigerian beyond this season. It will come down to whether or not Leipzig will allow that to happen.

Despite being 24, Lookman’s career thus far has been anything but straightforward and regular football on a permanent contract is exactly what the winger needs at this stage of his career.

Having made the move to Everton as a 19-year-old starlet after going through the ranks at Charlton Athletic, the forward was shipped off to Germany a year later to join Leipzig on loan for the second half of the 2017/18 season before rejoining the Bundesliga side on a permanent basis of the 2019/20 campaign.

However, it hasn’t really worked out for the Nigerian since, spending last season on loan at Fulham before joining Leicester.

On the whole, the 24-year-old has impressed in the royal blue of Leicester with Thursday night’s showing,  in a European semi-final, mind, particularly impressive. A permanent move should definitely be on the cards.

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