FC Liefering of Austria youngster, Karim Adeyemi has missed out on a mouthwatering €15m formal offer from Barcelona of Spain, as the hierarchy at his parent club, Red Bull Salzburg ae not ready to listen to any transfer talks for the fast-rising lad.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that, rather than cash in on a deal with Barca for the Nigerian-born youngster, Salzburg have serve a verdict strong that Adeyemi is in their plans for the long-term, and stressed that they do not intend selling him any time soon.
Despite interest being expressed in the youngster by Barcelona of Spain as well as Arsenal and Liverpool of England, Salzburg’s sporting director, Christoph Freund stressed that he and other officials at the UEFA Champions League campaigners are determined to keep hold of Adeyemi.
Although the 17-year-old striker is currently playing outside Salzburg on-loan to Liefering, he has attracted a formal €15m offer from Barca, while Arsenal and Liverpool are also said to be very keen of buying him in January or the summer of 2020.
Aside interest from the top three clubs in the Germany youth international, he is also said to be on the radar of German Bundesliga outfit, Borussia Dortmund, but he has a contract running with Salzburg till end of the 2020/21 season.
With Adeyemi having signed a three-year contract when he joined Salzburg from German third-tier side, SpVgg Unterhaching for €3.35m in 2018, Sky Sport Austria reports that the Austrian side recently rejected a €15m bid from Barcelona for the fast-rising kid, who has scored 10 goals in 16 appearances and six assists this season.
In the face of pressure on the club to sell, though, Fruend insists they will not let go of Adeyemi just yet, as he says the Nigerian-born kid is part of their plans for the future and they intend to keep him for the long term, in order to see him grow and develop on their cards.
“We’ll try to keep him with us for the longer term. We want to develop him with us. We want him to take the next step with us. He already knows that he still has a way to go. There is still work to do. The important thing is that he stays grounded.
“He does not have that much contract anymore. But we try to keep him with us for a longer period of time. We could get many more now, but we do not want that,” Fruend told Austria Press Agency (APA).
