Former Atalanta midfielder Massimo Donati believes Ademola Lookman’s remarkable transformation lies in the forward’s newfound understanding of his abilities, Soccernet.ng reports.

After different underwhelming spells in England and Germany, Lookman arrived in Italy in 2022 to join Atalanta from RB Leipzig in a deal slightly less than €10 million.

The Nigerian international has been nothing short of sensational for Atalanta, helping himself to back-to-back Player of the Season awards at the club.

Atalanta are the current Europa League champions, with Lookman playing a key part in that triumph by netting a sensational hat-trick in the final match against Bayer Leverkusen.

The former Everton and Fulham star has carried his excellent form into the 2024/25 season to inspire Atalanta to the top of the Italian Serie A table.

Following Lookman’s contributions to Atalanta, the Super Eagles forward was on Monday named the new Africa Footballer of the Year.

And former Celtic Glasgow midfielder Donati has hailed Lookman’s transformation, insisting the winger’s strength is in his awareness of his abilities.

“Lookman is an incredible player,” Donati told Gazzetta as per Football-Italia.

“The biggest improvement he’s made is to gain awareness of his strengths. Once you realise that, nobody can stop you.”

Lookman is expected to be benched as the Atalanta Serie A table leaders face Cesena in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 today.

The CIES Football Observatory has published data on the most used players over the course of the calendar year, with Barcelona’s Jules Koundé atop the list and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde among the top five.

France defender Koundé played a total of 5,872 minutes for club and country across the year, with Fluminense’s Colombia international Jhon Arias in second place with 5,599. Valverde played 5,573, while Van Dijk racked up 5,523 minutes in all competitions.

Arsenal’s William Saliba, Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka and Benfica’s Nicolás Otamendi also featured in the top 10.

CIES noted in their release that for the top 100 players in terms of minutes played, domestic club football accounted for 73.2%, with 15.1% from intercontinental club competitions and 13.4% from national team action.

Player usage and rest has become a topic of considerable concern in recent weeks and months, particularly after Manchester City’s Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Rodri said players could go on strike if the football calendar continues to become more congested.

Koundé agreed with Rodri’s sentiments, telling a news conference last September: “Every year, we have more matches and less time to recover. It’s not for want of saying it. We’ve been saying it for three or four years but no one listens to us.

“The coaches have also said it and they are not listened to either. There will come a time when we will have to strike, because it is the only way for us to make our voice heard by those who decide.”

In October, the global players’ union FIFPro filed an antitrust complaint against FIFA along with European football chiefs in which they that argue that global football’s governing body is abusing its right as both tournament organiser and regulator.

Chelsea are scoring for fun, but they want to add even more firepower to their attack, according to reports

Chelsea quite literally cannot stop scoring — no team has netted more than Enzo Maresca’s men this term — but that isn’t stopping them from wanting more.

Holding the keys to scoring success at Stamford Bridge is one Cole Palmer — ranked the third-best attacking midfielder in the world currently by FourFourTwo — he has the most Premier League goals (11) AND the most assists (6) of anybody in his team.

Nevertheless, the Blues seem to want to try and get more out of him, and it seems they are closing in on a strategy to achieve just that.

Chelsea eye Liam Delap to add firepower to Cole Palmer-led attack

According to a report from TEAMtalk, Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap is high on Chelsea’s list, noting a lack of natural no.9 options, with just Nicolas Jackson fitting the bill.

The same reports have noted that his determination, strength and skill are attributes that have made the west London club consider the 21-year-old as a transfer target.

It suggests that Chelsea want even more from their attack, viewing Delap as a physical presence up front and someone that Palmer, already the creative king at Chelsea, can bounce off to increase his goal involvement even further.

Delap only arrived at Portman Road this summer, in a £20 million deal from Manchester City, but TEAMtalk reports that the Tractor Boys are hopeful of holding their man until at least the end of the season.

It’s easy to see why Chelsea view Delap as the perfect Palmer partner: the Ipswich forward has already six goals for the top-flight strugglers despite feeding off scraps — imagine what he might achieve with the service of his former fellow City academy product.

Crucially, Pep Guardiola’s side does hold a buyback clause on Delap, and it’s reported they haven’t ruled out activating it in the summer, but are unlikely to in January.

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, the theory works great on paper, but Delap may want to be wary about moving too soon.

He’s only six goals and a handful of appearances into his Premier League career — it’s an incredible start, but he’s got plenty of time ahead of him for a big move.

He will be the main man at Ipswich, having been loaned out and far down the pecking order at City, something which will only enhance his reputation. A turn of bad form at Chelsea, however, and we know just how many top talents they have waiting to step into the breach.