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Karl-Heinz Rummenigge recalls Bayern Munich turning down Karim Adeyemi when he was with SpVgg Unterhaching

At the time, Bayern didn’t want to pay too much for a 16-year old Adeyemi, but he’s not one of Germany’s most promising young talents.

FBL-EUR-C1-BAYERN MUNICH-SALZBURG Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images

RB Salzburg’s Karim Adeyemi has quickly become one of Europe’s most sought after young talents after two successful seasons with the reigning Austrian Bundesliga champions. He’s coming off of an impressive 2020/2021 season where he scored nine goals and provided 11 assists en route to Salzburg collecting the domestic double in Jesse Marsch’s last season in charge of the club. He also recently marked his senior German National team debut with a goal in the 6-0 World Cup qualifying win back in the September international break and he provided an assist to Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala in the most recent 4-0 win over North Macedonia.

With his success at Salzburg, Adeyemi has attracted the attention of the Bundesliga’s top clubs, as well as other clubs in Europe. Earlier this month, it was reported that he would more than likely be leaving Salzburg this summer during the transfer window for a fee of around €30 million to €40 million, which is a fee that has initially put Bayern off. Along with Bayern, Borussia Dortmund RB Leipzig were said to be potential Bundesliga suitors for the 19-year-old talent.

Adeyemi did start his youth career at Bayern back in 2009, but as former CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge recently revealed, there was also an opportunity to buy him back when he was 16-years-old, playing for SpVgg Unterhaching’s U-18s and U-19s. At the time, Unterhaching president Manfred Schwabl had contacted Uli Hoeness regarding a potential return to Bayern for Adeyemi. However, Bayern did not want to have to pay around €3 million for him, which is what he would’ve cost. Now, Rummenigge didn’t want to entirely rule out a potential return to Bayern for Adeyemi as captured by Tz’s Philipp Kessler.

“I still know him from Unterhaching. Manni Schwabl contacted Uli at the time. We weren’t ready to pay that much. The transfer should cost around three million, which was a very proud sum for a 16-year-old at the time. He has developed well. I saw him at the international match and also saw him at the last CL game. He’s an interesting player. You have to wait and see what happens. Now it may cost a zero more than it cost back then would have.”

Adeyemi, of course, has also been linked to Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and FC Barcelona.

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