Player Profile – Karim Adeyemi’s Journey Story

DBasia.news – Regeneration in football is always running and this is one of the interesting things for football lovers, besides of course following the development of your favorite team or players who are already famous.

Talent in the world of football is abundant, especially in Europe with the progress and development of football there. There are many talents, but not all of them can reach peak performance.

Many factors influenced him from personal development, club choice, mentality and others. These young talents come from everywhere, but in Europe there are several clubs known as career development ‘schools’ for these talents.

Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Manchester United, Lille, Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, and RB Salzburg are some of these clubs. There is always a young talent born from there and right now there is one name that is grabbing attention, he is Karim Adeyemi.

Adeyemi is currently defending RB Salzburg and this season has scored eight goals and two assists in just 13 matches in all competitions. Only 19 years old, talented and sharp in scoring goals. It has become a guarantee magnet for scouts of European clubs.

Interesting Story from Karim Adeyemi’s Background

Taking a glance at Adeyemi’s CV via Wikipedia, Bayern Munich seems to have wasted the chance to have him in the first team. Adeyemi was in the Bayern academy in mid 2010-2012 before going to SpVgg Unterhaching.

That is understandable considering the intense competition in the Bayern first team which is inhabited by experienced players. It takes patience to penetrate the main team like Jamal Musiala did.

Not a problem for Bayern as well as Adeyemi. In fact the player shines more with Unterhaching. There Adeyemi played for six years and experienced good development at a young age.

“From a sporting point of view, it’s very clear that he can become a professional. The only thing that can ruin a kid’s career is if he gets injured or if we personally make a mistake,” said Manfred Schwabl, President of Unterhaching about Adeyemi.

Schwabl is a former Bayern and 1860 Munich player. He also once made an interesting bet on Adeyemi in the 2013 Merkur Cup, a tournament that is often considered the U-11 Champions League.

The stakes are simple: beat 1860 and Bayern and Adeyemi gets the pizza. That’s what Adeyemi did and her celebration by undressing, bare-chested was likened to Mario Balotelli’s celebration of a goal by the local media.

“I met her (Adeyemi) at the beer garden and asked her if she wanted pizza,” recalls Schwabl.

“At that time, I said to him, ‘We will make a deal. I pay you with pizza if you beat 1860 and Bayern’.”

Adeyemi won the bet and got a pizza. In addition to interesting stories about her, Adeyemi is a cheerful person who is easy-going (doesn’t think much of anything) until she has had problems at school because of her attitude.

Schwabl was aware of the problem and the club spoke intensely with the school, even the club had banned Adeyemi from training and playing until her grades improved at school.

“He said to himself, ‘I’m just a little bit interested in school, I’m still going to be a professional footballer’,” Schwabl explained.

“In school sports, he forgets his tracksuit; in math, his geometry kit – just a small mistake.”

All these memories and his cheerful nature helped Adeyemi’s career development. Even at a young age his game has matured to the point where he is already able to make a difference in the match.

“When we were in the dressing room, Karim suddenly spoke up and said, ‘Coach, stay calm, I’ll fix it’,” recalled Ognen Zaric, the coach who coached Adeyemi in Unterhaching’s Under-17 team to Goal.

“In the end, we won the game 2-0 and Karim scored both goals after a great solo run.”

Adeyemi became a big fish in a small pond. After scoring 15 goals from 15 matches in the U-17 team, Adeyemi was promoted to the U-19 team. Chelsea, Liverpool, and other top European clubs invited Adeyemi to do a trial.

But Salzburg stole the show. The existence of a rule that allows players aged 16 years to play in the first team of Austrian clubs is an attraction. Instead of staying in the Bundesliga, Adeyemi tried out a career in the Austrian Bundesliga.

“It was like winning the lottery for him. We knew that he was physically ready, so why should he stay in the Under-19 Bundesliga? This is a children’s league and has nothing to do with men’s football (senior),” added Schwabl.

‘Cold-blooded killer’

After that Adeyemi transferred 3.35 million euros to Salzburg who had loaned him to Liefering. Salzburg is the right place for Adeyemi to develop her career.

It’s no secret that Salzburg have developed players who are now famous like i Sadio Mane, Erling Haaland, Takumi Minamino, Naby Keita, and Patson Daka.

Adeyemi – judging by Transfermarkt’s data – has scored 18 goals and provided 17 assists in 63 games for Salzburg. Its development did not escape the monitoring of the German national team.

Born in Munich, Germany, on January 18, 2002, Adeyemi has Nigerian ancestry from her father and mother from Romania. He had three options to choose the national team, but in the end chose the country of birth.

It did not take long for Hansi Flick to call him to the German national team so that he would not change his mind and defend another national team. In September 2021 Adeyemi made his debut in Germany’s 6-0 win over Armenia in the 2022 World Cup Qualification match. His debut resulted in goals: one goal and one cap.

“He’s already shown earlier in the season that he can be icy cold in front of goal. He did very well today when he played,” said Flick praising Adeyemi.

Cheerful and relaxed but cold-blooded when in front of the opponent’s goal. That’s just one ability of Adeyemi who plays as a central striker and can also be placed on the wings.

Speed, good close-range ball control with both feet, good playing technique are also Adeyemi’s strengths which can still be developed to the maximum. Only Adeyemi can fix her ability to pass the ball.

Having a contract in Salzburg until 2024, the official price has now reached 20 million euros. Bayern, Chelsea, Liverpool are aiming for him. It was only a matter of time before Adeyemi followed in Haaland’s footsteps and switched clubs in Europe’s top leagues.