The sprinter that Hansi Flick already loved

Barcelona"He has enormous speed and a good first touch. Among his strong points, he particularly stands out in one-on-one situations. He is a great forward". This statement by Hansi Flick could be current, but the German coach made it in the summer of 2021, when he called up Karim Adeyemi for the first time and made him debut with the German national team at just 19 years old. At that time, the newblaugrana forward played for Salzburg – his training had been mostly at Bayern Munich – a club with whom he would begin to establish himself at the elite level, before making the leap to Borussia Dortmund. Flick has known Adeyemi for many years, just as, before signing for Dortmund in 2022 – when City snatched Erling Haaland from the Germans – he had already been in the orbit of the blaugrana technical secretariat.

This summer, the perfect storm occurred, which facilitated his incorporation in an almost lightning-fast operation. The footballer, with one year left on his contract, wanted a change of scenery. Hansi Flick had been following his situation for some time and is the main architect of his signing. Furthermore, the footballer is represented by Gestifute, Jorge Mendes' macro-agency, a representative who maintains direct contact with both president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco. Dortmund's intention was to sell him for a figure close to 40 million euros: this is the value with which the specialized portal Transfermarktvalues the footballer. Barça, however, in a second offer, reached up to 22 million fixed and seven in variables. An amount to which the Germans finally agreed due to the pressure from Adeyemi himself to only leave for the Catalan entity and Mendes's intermediation.

However, the 24-year-old German forward has been in Barcelona for over a week and has been training alone. The Catalan club has resolved the last bureaucratic details – such as being able to register him with Social Security and allow him to train with his teammates without any complications – and will present him this Thursday. This was the prior step to being able to call him up for the training camp that Barça will hold in England starting Monday. He has signed until 2031.

What does Hansi Flick expect from Karim Adeyemi?

Adeyemi lands at Barça after signing a discreet final season at Dortmund in which he has been losing prominence due to refusing to renew: he has participated in 39 games, scored 10 goals and provided six assists. "Hansi Flick has already shown that he knows how to make the most of footballers who have gone through periods of lower performance. We saw it in his first season with Raphinha and, last season, we also saw that he knew how to make the most of Rashford," recalls a source close to the Barça dressing room to ARA. "He knows him well and has influence over the player," he states.

In figures, his most successful season was 2021-22, the first he played with the BVB squad with 23 goals and 9 assists in 43 games. In the 2023-24 season, he played in the Champions League final, which they would eventually lose to Real Madrid, and was a starter in eight of the 13 matches his team played and missed one due to injury. In Adeyemi's favor, according to sources consulted by Barça, are "his versatility, as he can play in all three forward positions; his youth, and that it was a good market opportunity." Throughout his career, the forward has played most often as a striker, although he can occupy both wings, playing on the opposite foot from the right.

With the right wing covered by Lamine Yamal, who with his intervention and dribbling ability draws the attention of several defenders, on the left wing Flick is looking for footballers with a more sprinter profile and finishing ability. The Barça star draws in rival defenders, and this creates space. Therefore, on the left, players like Raphinha, Gordon, and now Adeyemi – who has registered top speeds exceeding 36 km/h – have room to run. Furthermore, with the arrival of the Briton and the German, the sporting management believes that they are covered if the Brazilian, this season or later, leaves the Barça discipline. Flick's priority, however, remains to sign a center forward, regardless of what happens with Ferran Torres."Worthy of the crown": the meaning of his name

Of Nigerian father and Romanian mother who migrated to Germany, his name means that he is "worthy of the crown" or that "the crown suits him". In Nigeria, names that begin with Ade- usually belong to the Yoruba ethnic group, one of the three major ethnic groups in the country (along with the Hausa and the Igbo). In the Yoruba language, Adé (Ade) means crown and is associated with royalty, nobility or prestige. For this reason, it is very common among Yoruba families, although nowadays people of all kinds of origins from this community wear it.