Gian Piero Gasperini's Roma scour market for 'new Lookman'
Gian Piero Gasperini has been among the best coaches in Serie A over the last decade and this time around he has ended a long stint at Atalanta to go to Roma. As he begins to model a side like the one at Atalanta, the most difficult task is to find a like-for-like replacement for Ademola Lookman.
Lookman, 27, was the cornerstone of Gasperini's Atalanta over the last two seasons, contributing to 52 goals in that time span. The challenge is not only to find that output but also his direct threat from out wide. It's worth noting that Lookman himself is reportedly on the market but it is expected that he will be looking at a bigger club, potentially abroad.
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As per calciomercato.com, Roma have made preliminary shortlist of two players for this role – Igor Paixao from Feyenoord and Abde Ezzalzouli from Real Betis. While neither player is currently at the same level as Lookman, Gasperini's track record with attacking players and it is the Italian who finally got the Nigerian playing at his best. Paixao is expected to cost around €25-30m and Napoli were interested too while Betis will demand €20m for Abde with fellow Serie A club Como also closely monitoring him.
Kaulik Mitra | GIFN
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