Fabrizio Romano Shares Update on ‘Unstoppable’ Arsenal Transfer Targe

Fabrizio Romano Shares Update on ‘Unstoppable’ Arsenal Transfer Target

Arsenal could find themselves back in the race for Ademola Lookman from Atalanta in the summer transfer window, Fabrizio Romano has exclusively told pundit – with the Gunners having ‘called’ the Serie A club when they thought the Nigeria international could be available for a move to north London.

Lookman moved to Atalanta back in 2022 after some slightly underwhelming loan spells in the Premier League at Fulham and Leicester City, having failed to find a proper home for himself – but it’s been his time in Lombardy where he’s excelled with 49 goals in 106 games for the Nerazzurri, where he has been called ‘unstoppable’ by Norwegian journalist Markus Fjortoft.

Romano: Lookman ‘Plan’ to Leave Atalanta, Arsenal Have Shown Previous Interest

The Gunners could look to add to their front line in the summer

However, recent developments have seen Lookman pushed close to the exit door, after manager Gian Piero Gasperini publicly berated Lookman for being ‘one of the worst penalty takers’ he has ever seen – to which the forward responded to the ‘deep disrespect’ his gaffer showed him.

Ademola Lookman’s Serie A statistics – Atalanta squad ranking

Stats

Output

Squad rank

Appearances

20

=12th

Goals

12

2nd

Assists

5

=2nd

Shots Per Game

2.7

2nd

Key Passes Per Game

2

1st

Match rating

7.39

3rd

But Romano has stated that the decision was already made for Lookman to leave Atalanta prior to that debacle, telling GIVEMESPORT’s ‘Market Madness’ podcast that there is a verbal pact between the clubs to leave – and Arsenal could have another look at signing the attacker. He said:

“Not in Italy, and not in Bergamo for sure, because he’s going to leave Atalanta.

“So the decision was made even before what happened with coach Gasperini after the Champions League game. The plan, from what I’m told, was already last summer to leave Atalanta. There was a verbal pact between Lookman and Atalanta to leave, and then Atalanta changed their plan because [Teun] Koopmeiners left the club, and so obviously they didn’t want to sell their best players.

“But this summer of 2025, Lookman will go. Lookman will look for new opportunities. At the moment, there is still nothing really advanced with any club.

“There was strong interest from Paris Saint-Germain last summer, but then in January, they signed [Khvicha] Kvaratskhelia in that position, and so I don’t think PSG will be back on this.

“On this topic from the Premier League, there has always been interest. Arsenal, Liverpool – all these clubs were calling last summer when they had a feeling Lookman was available – let’s see if they will do the same this year.”

With Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus all out with injury, it’s only been in recent weeks that Arsenal have seen just how much of an attacking threat they’ve lost.

ONTHEGOAL.COM.NG Key Statistic: Ademola Lookman has six goals in 23 games for Nigeria’s national team.

They can’t afford that to happen again next season, and Lookman’s addition would cover all bases if their attacking stars were to suffer from injury again in the following campaigns.