Newcastle United may well be looking on enviously at a reported former transfer target who is now flourishing elsewhere, with Borussia Dortmund gem Karim Adeyemi having seemingly been on the Magpies’ radar back in November 2021.
Were Newcastle close to signing Adeyemi?
Ahead of what was to be the first transfer window following the change in ownership at St James’ Park, reports in Germany suggested that the Tynesiders had enquired about the prospect of bringing the then-Red Bull Salzburg starlet to England.
However, the suggestion at the time was that joining the Magpies was ‘out of the question’, with the Premier League club having been battling relegation at the time, and the Munich native ultimately sealed a £33m move to the Westfalenstadion ahead of last summer’s transfer window.
Having missed out on the 5 foot 11 speedster, Eddie Howe and co ultimately secured the signing of another attacking target in the form of Chris Wood in January 2022 for £25m, albeit with the New Zealand international moving on last month after just a year at the club, scoring only five goals.
How is Adeyemi getting on at Dortmund?
After previously bagging 33 goals and laying on 24 assists in 94 games for his former club – along with providing 27 goal involvements in 35 games on loan at FC Liefering – Adeyemi has now begun to fire for Edin Terzic’s Dortmund, with six goals and three assists in 24 games so far this term.
The fleet-footed youngster has notably been “flying” in recent weeks – in the words of team-mate Jude Bellingham – after an initial “tough time” following the move to Dortmund, and he has scored three goals and provided one assist in his last three Bundesliga appearances.
The versatile dynamo – who can feature on the flanks or in a more central role – most notably caught the eye last week as a result of his match-winning performance against Chelsea in the Champions League, producing a sensational solo run and finish for the only goal in that first-leg clash.
That moment of genius laid bare why the four-cap German is a player whose “quality and speed are brutal” and has “almost everything a striker needs”, according to his former Red Bull Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle.
A player who is simply “ice-cold” in front of goal, as per his national team boss Hansi Flick, Adeyemi appears destined to have a big future in the game, having produced a silky and instinctive finish on the turn in Dortmund’s most recent league triumph over Hertha Berlin.
As such, those back on Tyneside likely regretting their failure to pluck the striker from Austria just over a year ago, with dynamic gem now said to be valued at around €50m (£44m) by the CIES Football Observatory.
It would be no real surprise if the 21-year-old does emerge as a future target for Howe and co again in the years to come.
