La Liga champion FC Barcelona are ready to splash out €8m for Salburg youngster Karim Adeyemi to continue with their ‘Operation Future’.
Adeyemi, born in 2002, has scored five goals in nine Austrian second division games for the RB Salzburg side feeder club FC Liefering and caught the attention of Patrick Kluivert, academy director of FC Barcelona.
The 17-year old, who has likewise assisted on four occasions, has been compared to current Blaugrana prospect Ansu Fati.
Mundo Deportivo report that FC Barcelona have confirmed their interest in the youngster. They state the forward, who is of Nigerian descent, could cost the Catalan club around 8 million euro after Salzburg already handed out £3 million to German club SpVgg Unterhaching to secure his service in 2018.
Adeyemi – who has a Nigerian father and Romanian mother – began his youth career at Bayern Munich and went on to spend six years at SpVgg Unterhaching. Regardless of playing for the feeder club, Adeyemi trains with the senior side before dropping down to play in the second division.
Barcelona sees the transfer fee as extremely high for a youngster but are convinced by his abilities after Kluivert made club directors mindful of him. Like Ansu Fati, he is a centre-forward who can play comfortably on the left and right flank of the pitch and his performances for Die Mannschaft’s U16 speaks volume and also netted three goals in seven caps for the Under-17 side.
He would fit into the current ‘operacion Futuro’ – ‘Operation future’ – right now being undertaken at the Nou Camp.
Since Ernesto Valverde took charge of the Bluagrana he has handed debuts to 14 La Masia players and has increased his plan, halfway because of constant injuries battling the senior team members this season.
The likes of Ansu Fati, 16, Carles Perez, 21, Ronald Araujo, 19 and Jean-Clair Todibo, 19 has massively benefitted, an unmistakable explanation of Barcelona’s intent of ‘Operation Future’ a theme-revolution for La Masia graduates.
