U21 European champion, DFB youngster, BVB preferred candidate: That’s Salzburg striker Karim Adeyemi
In January 2020, Karim Adeyemi was in the RB Salzburg professional squad shifted. The welcome from his introduced trainer Jesse Marsch in the training center not far from the arena seemed reserved, his answers in the subsequent interview with the shy SPORTSSUMMER. The striker, who had just turned 18, had just opened the door to the big, dazzling world of football. He is now the U21 European Champion – after just three appearances in this junior year. The native of Munich has now completed just as many under national coach Hansi Flick in the senior national team. He scored the first goal on his debut in September 2021 in the World Cup qualifier in a 6-0 win against Armenia.
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His footballing roots lie with TSV Forstenried in the south-west of Munich, where he started in 2007 at the age of five. Two years later he dared to take the leap to become a junior at FC Bayern. But in 2011 Adeyemi’s adventure with the German record champions ended again. At the age of eleven, he played for Forstenried for one more season, only to switch to SpVgg Unterhaching a year later. The son of a Nigerian father and a Romanian mother stayed there until he was under 19. Then he continued his way in the Salzburg farm team FC Liefering.
Even FC Barcelona approached him before it went to the professionals. But he remained loyal to the Austrian club because he “in good hands and in the right place” Possibly, he said at the time SPORTSBUZZER interview. Adeyemi is now one of the top performers among coach Matthias Jaissle’s pros, who on Tuesday (9 p.m., Amazon Prime) are required in the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League at FC Bayern. The first leg two weeks ago ended 1-1. The German international failed to score a goal. In 83 competitive games for Salzburg, however, he has already scored 29 goals and prepared 19 more. In the current season alone, he is his team’s top scorer with 15 goals in 21 league games, and he has also scored three times in seven premier league games. There are also two templates.
Will Adeyemi move to BVB?
Adeyemi is a very different character than, say, Jude Bellingham. The 18-year-old Englishman, who is already one of the top performers at BVB, is dominant on the pitch and occasionally tangles with opponents or teammates. Bellingham is “a courageous boy” and a “daredevil who pushes the boundaries,” said Dortmund’s manager Michael Zorc after the youngster’s first major interview in Germany. The national player of the “Three Lions” had just turned 17.
In the meantime, Adeyemi has shed his reticence and youthful shyness. With every press conference, with every interview, with every goal, his self-confidence grows. He is now also familiar with the mechanisms of the business. show that his statements with a view to a possible move to BVB, where he could become Bellingham’s one and a half year older teammate. Before the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Bayern, the striker said: “My focus is here in Salzburg. Nothing is clear yet. What happens in summer happens in summer.”
In any case, a change from Salzburg to the black and yellow seems to be faltering at the moment. how to die Ruhr news reported at the beginning of the week that there is a big discrepancy in the transfer fee that should flow from the pot to the Salzach. According to this, the Austrian Red Bull club is probably funding 42.5 million euros – Dortmund apparently want to pay significantly less.
Marsch wanted Adeyemi in Leipzig
His ex-coach Marsch would have liked to bring him to Leipzig when the American was still in office there. “I can only say positive things about Karim’s personality and in the daily work”, Marsch praised his former protégé last November, adding: “He’s outstanding in the last third and always dangerous.” From a shy newcomer who just turned pro, Adeyemi has matured into a coveted top striker on and off the pitch. For Adeyemi, a change, whether to BVB or another ambitious club in Europe, would be a logical step – both athletically and for further personal development.