Leipzig hopeful of Lookman deal

RB Leipzig are willing to wait for Everton forward Ademola Lookman but hope to avoid the stress of deadline-day negotiations.

Lookman, 20, joined the Bundesliga side on loan in January in what head coach Ralf Rangnick described as a “last-second” deal.

The England youth international repaid the patience with five league goals and Leipzig are now eager to tie him down on a permanent basis.

They seem set to face a fight for his signature with Marco Silva urging Everton not to budge, but Rangnick is keeping calm over the tug-of-war.

“We’ll see. Let’s just wait another week,” the Leipzig boss told a media conference.

“When you turn back the time to the last day of the last transfer market, at 2:00pm we didn’t even think about a loan of Ademola Lookman. It seemed impossible to get him.

“But four hours later we got the deal done. I said then that it wasn’t a last-minute deal but a last-second deal.

“We don’t plan to repeat this, because it was a very stressful situation for us. We’ll just wait. When Everton wants to keep the player they will tell us. If not we’ll see if there’s a chance of still getting him.”

Lookman is yet to feature for Everton in the Premier League this term.