While a fixed transfer fee of 75 million euros is said to have been agreed for Haaland, who also came from Austria’s series champion Red Bull Salzburg at the beginning of 2020, there is no official information about the exact transfer fee for Adeyemi. The previous record is held by Salzburg striker Patson Daka, for whose move Leicester City is said to have put 30 million euros on the table last year. Dortmund is said to have paid at least as much for Adeyemi. Naby Keita, who moved to Leipzig in 2016 for 29.7 million, is in second place among the most expensive transfers abroad.
“Karim Adeyemi is a highly talented, young German international whose strength at the end of our offensive game will look just as good as his extreme pace,” said BVB sporting director Michael Zorc. “His speed and goal threat are impressive, and although Karim is already very far in terms of football and athletics at just 20 years old, we see enormous development potential in him,” said Sebastian Kehl, who will act as sporting director of BVB from the coming season.
Adeyemi waves goodbye to the top scorer
Adeyemi is currently the leading scorer in the Admiral Bundesliga with 19 goals. The U21 European Champion of 2021 came to Salzburg from Unterhaching in the summer of 2018 as a 16-year-old and initially worked for the cooperation club FC Liefering. “He was a young, funny and polite fellow with a lot of talent,” Salzburg’s sporting director Christoph Freund recalls. Austria’s serial champion is said to have transferred three million euros for the young player at the time. Two years later, the technically strong and agile attacker moved up to the pros.
During his four years in Salzburg, he has won six titles (three champions, three cup winners). In the current season, Adeyemi made a total of 35 appearances (22 goals/six assists) for Salzburg in the Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League. On September 5, 2021, he made his debut in the German national team in the World Cup qualifier against Armenia and scored his first goal in the 6-0 win. At his new club he now meets a number of ex-Salzburg players in the form of coach Marco Rose, Alexander Zickler, Rene Maric and Patrick Eibenberger (athletic coach).
“Experienced a lot and learned so much” in Salzburg
“As a little boy, I was fascinated by black and yellow fast-paced football. So when I found out about Dortmund’s interest, I quickly realized that I would like to switch to BVB,” said Adeyemi. “I deliberately signed for the long term because I’m convinced that we will be an exciting team that, with the support of the fantastic Dortmund fans, will be able to play for and win titles in the medium term.”
He will never forget Salzburg. “I’ve experienced so much and learned so much during this time – I still can’t quite realize some of it,” said the 20-year-old. “But in football there is little time for sentimentality, because for me it’s already a step further. Finally, what was important for me was that I was able to achieve one last big goal of the season with FC Red Bull Salzburg: I’m leaving the club as a double winner, and that feels great.”
