Bundesliga
Ademola Lookman has returned to the Bundesliga in an environment perfectly suited to spur him on to full international honours with England under the guidance of RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann. The 32-year-old, after all, has previous.
The surroundings are new for both men, with Nagelsmann joining the club in July after three-and-a-half enormously successful years at Hoffenheim.
Having taken over the TSG reins as a 28-year-old in February 2016, Nagelsmann went on to steer Hoffenheim clear of relegation before delivering back-to-back UEFA Champions League campaigns with fourth and third-place finishes in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 Bundesliga seasons.
Those were the best results in the club’s history, and Nagelsmann’s success was borne out of the constant improvement of his squad. Few if any players to have been coached by Nagelsmann can say with a straight face that they didn’t improve under his guidance.
An ongoing education
He has helped rehabilitate Andrej Kramaric and Mark Uth, turned Sandro Wagner and Nico Schulz into fully-fledged Germany internationals and Sebastian Rudy a regular one. He developed Niklas Süle and Serge Gnabry into the top-flight champions they are today, and breathed new life into the careers of Ishak Belfodil, Kerem Demirbay, and Joelinton.
The list goes on and on, but it is his work with talented youngsters such as Süle and Gnabry that is particularly impressive, suggesting that 21-year-old Lookman could replicate the upward trajectory of that duo’s respective careers since working with Nagelsmann.
Just ask Süle, who describes Nagelsmann as a “tactics freak”.
"Julian is a very meticulous coach with an incredible amount of knowledge,” Süle told Goal of the man whom he spent five years learning from at Hoffenheim.
"Sometimes in training you feel like you are in school, because you have to think very hard. But he improves the team incredibly, because he makes training exercises that I did not even know before.”
An arm around the shoulder
It is not only tactically where Nagelsmann excels. His personable man management has also been lauded, and his ability to devise tactical master plans and then communicate them succinctly to his players is peerless.
"As a man, I must say, he is also an outstanding coach who responds to the team, who talks to the team. He is really a top coach,” said Süle.
Nagelsmann himself described the importance of both tactical and relationship nous as such in an interview with JOE: “I strongly believe that if you want to be a successful coach, empathy and taking care of the person behind the player is of greater importance than any tactical aspects.
“If you have limited tactical knowledge, you can still be a successful coach. On the other hand, if you have great tactical qualities, but you are not good with man management, you will never be successful.
“I place great emphasis in giving my players a clear tactical plan to give them help and support in match situations. But the relationship I have with them is very, very important to me.”
Perfect for a young player
Clearly, this environment Nagelsmann fosters is a perfect one for youngsters to thrive in. They know that training is challenging yet fun, their coach is always there to hear their concerns or ideas, and he is staunchly committed to nurturing their development.
Watch: Lookman scored a debut goal during his first stint with Leipzig
As well as sweating the small stuff, those fine margins that make good players great, Nagelsmann provides opportunity for youth to shine, handing them a platform to play an attacking brand of football free of the fear of failure.
This will excite Lookman, who returned to Leipzig permanently a year after spending the best part of the 2017/18 Rückrunde on loan at the club. And the Londoner knows Nagelsmann can see to it that the winger takes flight.
"Julian Nagelsmann is a very young coach, which is why he also knows a lot about young players," he said.
"I'm sure that I can learn a lot from him, especially from his way of playing football."
An example to follow
Gnabry’s case is one Lookman will likely have studied intently before making the move.
There are similarities between the two; both left wingers, both spent frustrating English Premier League spells without the game time required to take them to the next level, and both sought Bundesliga refuge.
After a fine loan spell with Werder Bremen caught the attention of Bayern Munich, Gnabry moved to Hoffenheim on loan in 2017/18, “fascinated” by the Nagelsmann approach.
“The season before, I had played against Hoffenheim and in the second half of the season we took a real hiding, but their style of play appealed to me – it was so attacking," he said.
And Gnabry shone during his year nestled in Nagelsmann’s wing at Hoffenheim, registering the best season of his career with 10 goals and seven assists from 22 Bundesliga appearances. He became a Germany regular during that time, before returning to Bayern a newly integral cog for both club and country.
The next English Bundesliga star?
An England U21 international, Lookman will be hoping to push himself into Gareth Southgate’s senior reckoning in much the same way that Jadon Sancho has been able to on the back of his stunning Borussia Dortmund performances.
Nagelsmann oversaw Gnabry’s rise, coached Süle and Schulz when they collected their first caps, helped Kramaric go on to become a 2018 FIFA World Cup finalist, assured Rudy’s place at the same tournament, and turned Wagner into “the best German striker”. It may be just a matter of time, then, before the Leipzig coach’s Midas touch gets Lookman into a full England squad.