Xavi and Dani Alves’ return to Barcelona certainly made us fans more optimistic about the state of the club. Moreover, it also made the journalists more “optimistic” and we started hearing about possible transfers. Names like Sterling, Coman, Cavani and other start to pop up every day. But there’s one name that seems like a real target for Barcelona – Karim Adeyemi.
The 19 years old German/Nigerian attacker of Salzburg has everything to become the next big thing. Furthermore, getting him now would cost much less than getting him in a year or two from BVB or Leipzig. Just take a look at Haaland, who came from the same team.
Considering the current financial state of FC Barcelona, is getting Adeyemi even doable? Well, yes. Let me explain how we can do it.
Long term interest
It’s not the first time that Barcelona are looking at Adeyemi. The market value of the 19 years old attacker skyrockets in the last few months. But the interest of Barcelona was there for a long time. In 2019, Kluivert tried to bring him to La Masia. He spoke with his father, and it was close. But at the end Adeyemi signed for Salzburg.
Last summer, Barcelona met Salzburg for a pre-season friendly, and Adeyemi did an amazing job. According to recent reports, Ramon Planes tried to negotiate for him, but both sides didn’t reach an agreement.
This season, Adeyemi is one of the rising stars in Europe. At 19 years of age, he scored 3 goals in 4 UCL matches. Moreover, he won 3 penalties vs Sevilla. Furthermore, Adeyemi recently played for the senior German NT, and even scored a goal.
Tough operation, but possible
According to recent reports, Salzburg expect to receive around 35-40 Million Euros. It’s fair to say that Barcelona can’t pay that amount in January.
But, if the club can secure a loan + Obligation to buy him in the summer- it’s more than possible. The main reason for that is the fact that Barcelona will receive money from selling both Griezmann and Trincao next summer.
As we all remember from the Arthur-Pjanic operation, buying and selling operations aren’t the same, in terms of accounting. While selling a player would add the whole amount as income in the same year, buying is different. If you pay 40m for Adeyemi and sign him for 5 years, the money is divided per the number of years of his contrant. Add a 5m salary for example, and Adeyemi would cost 13m per year.
Adeyemi is a Barcelona fan?
Another factor that might work in Barcelona’s advantage is the fact that Adeyemi apparently loves Barça. In 2019 he said that his dream is to play for Barcelona. Moreover, in recent weeks he’s liking many IG posts of the official Barcelona page.
I’m not saying that this will the biggest factor for his signing, but it might work in Barcelona’s benefit. Moreover, Barça can offer him to be a starter instantly, and I’m not sure that many elite teams could offer him that.
Bottom line
Very exciting prospect that Barça will consider signing. He looks like the classic player to adjust to Xavi’s system. He can be a winger, a striker and his versatility would help a lot.
It will also be a nice move to sign a player before he goes to the German/French league and becomes a 100 million player.
