Tottenham see £35m star ‘offered to Frank’ rub salt in their wounds | Football | Sport

Ademola Lookman wasted no time making his mark on his Atletico Madrid debut, shortly after Tottenham Hotspur had been given the opportunity to sign him. The Nigerian forward both scored and set up a goal for Diego Simeone’s side as they surged towards the Copa del Rey final with a commanding 5-0 victory over Real Betis in the quarter-final.

Lookman, who has previously featured in the Premier League with Everton, Fulham and Leicester, became available after Serie A club Atalanta placed him on the transfer list and was previously ‘offered’ to Spurs. The Times had previously reported during the summer that Tottenham were presented with the chance to acquire the 28-year-old, though he ultimately opted for the Spanish giants. It was understood that Bayern Munich had a loan proposal with an option to purchase rejected for the forward, who netted 20 goals across all competitions in the previous campaign.

It was suggested that Thomas Frank’s outfit were seeking additional attacking options following the arrival of Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig. However, when the winter transfer window arrived, Spurs secured Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid whilst their pursuit of Liverpool defender Andy Robertson proved unsuccessful.

Lookman’s name resurfaced in connection with Spurs, but he instead completed a switch to La Liga for a fee believed to be around £30.3million, becoming the first English-born footballer to compete in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A.

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The 28-year-old enjoyed a fairytale debut, opening his account with a composed finish after half an hour before turning provider for Antoine Griezmann’s fourth goal.

Lookman spearheaded the counter-attack brilliantly, slipping a pass through to the Frenchman, who dispatched it into the top right corner. Lookman’s impressive introduction in Madrid will serve as a painful reminder for Spurs, who have struggled for firepower throughout the campaign.

Dominic Solanke has made his presence felt since recovering from injury, notably netting twice in their 2-2 stalemate with Manchester City most recently. However, with Richarlison sidelined, Spurs are stretched thin up front, and their failure to strengthen in the transfer window prompted club captain Cristian Romero to publicly criticise the hierarchy.

The Argentine took to social media to write: “Great effort from all my team-mates yesterday, they were incredible. I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available – unbelievable but true and disgraceful.

“We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans.”

Frank was compelled to respond to the comments during his pre-match media briefing ahead of tomorrow’s encounter with Manchester United. However, the Dane refuted suggestions of unrest amongst the squad. He said: “Everyone here is ambitious. Everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to make sure we do the best in the league and we have a good opportunity in the Champions League that we need to hunt for everything we can. We’ve had some good performances, better, and in how they are running when they are behind, I see a team that is fighting, players fighting, and that’s a big thing.

“In the summer, we made two good signings in Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus, and a good loan in Joao Palhinha so it’s not as though we don’t want to loan players to strengthen the squad. And if you compare us to other top six clubs, we think it was a big signing with Conor Gallagher. I know the club is very ambitious and the owners are very ambitious and I have no doubt we will see that going forward.”