Former Celtic transfer guru Lee Congerton has been hailed by Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini for his advice to sign Europa League final star man Ademola Lookman.
The winger scored a hat-trick as the Serie A side toppled Bayer Leverkusen in the final in Dublin on Wednesday.
Lookman - who previously played for Charlton, Everton, RB Leipzig. Fulham and Leicester - became the sixth player in history to net a hat-trick in the final of a European competition.
Atalanta manager Gasperini reserved special praise for former Celtic recruitment chief Congerton after the final. He showered Congerton with praise over his call to sign star man Lookman.
The Italian manager commented: "We had a senior manager at Atalanta [Lee Congerton] who had worked at Leicester, who saw the opportunity to bring him in and thought he was a possible useful player.
"Nobody could ever imagine he could make this much progress. He wasn't overly prolific in England. I changed his position to a more attacking role.
"Tonight he achieved something which will remain in the annals of football history - a stunning hat-trick."
Congerton - who previously claimed he tried to sign Christian Nkunku and Moussa Diaby from PSG for Celtic - worked with Lookman at Leicester and was a trusted ally of Brendan Rodgers.
The current Celtic manager has revealed he tried to sign Lookman for the Parkhead club during his first stint in Glasgow.
However, he explained any move was ruled out because the "money was too much" and the winger joined Everton instead.
Rodgers said on talkSPORT: "I was so, so happy for him when watching the game last night.
"I go back to my first spell here at Celtic and I met with Ade when he was going to be leaving Charlton and we looked to get him up here at that time, but it was so early in the window that by the time it finished we couldn't afford him.
"The money was too much for us and he ended up going to Everton.
