Exclusive: Liverpool eye 'exciting' £32m star Jurgen Klopp hailed in 2022, face Arsenal battle
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Premier League trio Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have asked to be kept informed of Karim Adeyemi’s situation after the Borussia Dortmund star hit a Champions League hat-trick this week.
- Exclusive from Graeme Bailey
While his evening may have been curtailed early in the second half by a cruelly-timed thigh injury, Dortmund’s 7-1 shellacking of Celtic on Tuesday night still felt like a real coming-of-age performance from their Germany Under 21 international speedster.
Karim Adeyemi fired a 42nd minute hat-trick past Brendan Rodgers’ side on a stunning night at Signal Iduna Park.
Adeyemi’s second highlighted many of the attributes that make the 22-year-old one of the most fearsome attacking talents in Europe on his day.
The Red Bull Salzburg graduate turned on his turbo-charged acceleration and breezed past a hopeless Celtic challenge before lashing a blink-and-you-miss it strike into Kasper Schmeichel’s near post from a seemingly impossible angle.
And TBR can now confirm that, with Adeyemi’s reputation now the highest it has ever been, Premier League trio Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have set their sights on a player who joined Dortmund in a £32 million deal back in 2022.
Liverpool and Arsenal eye Dortmund star Karim Adeyemi
Adeyemi stayed put over the summer despite interest from Juventus. A flying start to the new campaign – five goals and five assists in just eight appearances – have sparked links with Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
And with some of England’s A-list clubs in the market for attackers heading into 2025, Dortmund could face a battle hanging onto Adeyemi over the coming months.
Man City famously signed Erling Haaland from Die Schwarzgelben. Liverpool, meanwhile, has been hope to a number of players who made their name at a taurine-powered RB Salzburg outfit from Sadio Mane to Naby Keita, Ibrahima Konata to Dominic Szoboszlai and Takumi Minamino.
"He has unbelievable speed, dynamism, an instinct to score – he has learned a lot of things that cannot be taught," then-Salzburg director Christoph Freund said at the time.
Former Dortmund teammate Jude Bellingham was full of praise for Adeyemi too, insisting that few defenders can stop him in full flow.
Interestingly, Adeyemi was reportedly on Liverpool’s radar – described as an ‘exciting talent’ by Jurgen Klopp himself – before he took the Haaland route to Dortmund two years back.
Adeyemi on Liverpool’s radar again amid Mo Salah uncertainty
“A very special game for me,” Adeyemi smiled after hitting the first hat-trick of his career on the biggest of stages. “I had big ambitions going into the game. I had a good start, and almost every shot went in.”
Dortmund veteran and former Liverpool midfielder Emre Can is also full of praise for a player who appears to have hit a completely new level since last term. At 22, the penny may have dropped with Adeyemi adding a long-awaited ruthless streak to his fearsome pace.
“The way Karim played was brilliant. He’s making huge progress,” Can said. “He’s playing more maturely, more ambitiously.”
Equally comfortably on the left, on the right or through the middle, it is tempting to wonder if Liverpool view Adeyemi as a potential replacement for Mo Salah.
Their Egyptian King will by 33 this time next year, after all, while his contract is also due to expire in 2025.
TBR can confirm that Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal are also keen on another Bundesliga luminary; Bayer Leverkusen whizzkid Florian Wirtz.
