Ademola, fresh from two games with Nigeria, returns from South Africa after strikes, individual training sessions, and remote exchanges with the club

Atalanta is preparing to welcome back Ademola Lookman. After playing his first minutes of the season with Nigeria, the 1997-born player will return to Zingonia in a few hours, the latest chapter in a saga that has been going on for over a month, involving strikes, individual training sessions, and remote exchanges with the club to leave Bergamo. Atalanta has already sanctioned the hero of Dublin for all the tension and shortcomings.

New beginning—  Lookman will arrive in Zingonia and it will be assessed whether he will be immediately available to Ivan Juric: there will be no further disciplinary measures—not least because, quite simply, there is no reason to impose any—but only technical and physical considerations that are part of the natural course of returning after commitments with one’s national team. After all, Ademola returned to Bergamo after a journey of over 16 hours (and a stopover) from South Africa, took to the field for 75 and 90 minutes three days later without ever having trained with the team, even though he had always kept himself in shape. In short, Juric and his staff will be able to assess him physically to see if he will be ready to play in Sunday’s match against Lecce, for which time is particularly tight. That is why it is not certain that Friday’s session will be Lookman’s first with the rest of the group under the Croatian coach.