Borussia Dortmund’s Newest Star Is Born

If Borussia Dortmund is famous for something, it is for being the most consistent, and so far the most successful, challenger to Bayern Munich's Bundesliga supremacy in the 21st century. If Borussia Dortmund is famous for something else, it is for being Europe's premier finishing school for young talents destined for bigger and better salaries and transfer fees upon graduation. Here's a short list of players who have passed through Dortmund in the last 15 years or so, in no particular order: Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembélé, Jadon Sancho, Ilkay Gündogan, Mario Götze, Christian Pulisic, Jude Bellingham, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Erling Haaland, Mats Hummels ... Ok, maybe the list isn't so short, and not all of those players starred upon leaving Dortmund. However, the impressive history of talent detection and refinement is there, and that list is about to get a little bit longer, now that Karim Adeyemi appears to be hitting a new level of excellence.

When the then-20-year-old winger moved from RB Salzburg to Dortmund in May of 2022, the move had all the makings of one of Dortmund's trademark short-term, lucrative polishing jobs, as demonstrated most recently with Bellingham. Like the Englishman now tearing it up at Real Madrid, Adeyemi was rumored to have caught the eye of bigger clubs even back then, including Liverpool and Barcelona. It made sense for him to resist those glamor clubs in favor of Dortmund, though. In West Germany, he would get plenty of opportunities to develop and shine, and a big-time move with a prominent role following a successful stint there felt like an eventuality, not a possibility.

Or so it seemed then. In truth, Adeyemi's first two seasons at Dortmund were merely fine. Nothing tragic or concerning, but certainly not the type of star-studded early years that a player of his potential seemed to have in store. In 45 Bundesliga appearances across his first two seasons, Adeyemi amassed just nine goals and six assists—decent numbers, but perhaps not ones good enough to justify the €30 million Dortmund spent to get him. Still, though, Dortmund is nothing if not patient, and in the 2024-25 season, Adeyemi appears to finally be putting it all together, and still at the young age of 22.

In his side's first five league games, Adeyemi has been Dortmund's best attacking weapon. He notched a man of the match performance against Heidenheim, grabbing a brace and an assist in a wild 4-2 win, and he also set up two goals in Dortmund's last match against Bochum. However, it was his performance on Tuesday that gave the first real sign that he is on the ascent to stardom. There, in a Champions League match against Celtic, Adeyemi scored Dortmund's first first-half hat-trick in European play since 2002. Oh, and he did it all not just in the first half, but in just about 31 minutes.

The final scoreline might make it seem like this was a simple jog around the park for Dortmund; it's hard to win 7-1 against evenly matched opposition, after all. But that undersells how important Adeyemi was in creating that wide gap in quality and on the scoreboard. After an Emre Can penalty in the seventh minute, the visiting Scots drew level just two minutes later through Daizen Maeda. Though Dortmund was at home, Celtic under Brendan Rodgers can be a tough out anywhere on the continent; for every 6-0 defeat to Atlético Madrid in last year's group stage, there seems to be a 2-2 draw against that same Atlético Madrid in that same group stage.

So, it fell to Adeyemi to make sure that didn't happen here, and he did so resoundingly. Two minutes after Maeda's equalizer, Julian Brandt spotted Adeyemi running parallel to the back line and hit an exquisite through ball that the winger was able to latch on to, albeit moving somewhat away from the center of the goal. No matter, though, as the left-footed Adeyemi got enough separation to get the shot off. That bit of separation was key, as it was just enough to let the ball gather some force, enough force to bounce off of Auston Trusty's foot and deflect past Kasper Schmeichel:

Adeyemi didn't need any lucky deflections on his second goal. After Celtic more or less cleared a 29th minute corner, the ball fell to Adeyemi once more on the left side of the box. This time he ripped a laser beam from a near-impossible angle. Schmeichel was able to get a soft touch on the ball but, realistically, he once again had no chance, and this time, he couldn't blame bad luck. This was pure ball-striking prowess on display:

At this point, the rout was fully on, as 3-1 turned into 4-1 in the 40th minute, thanks to a Serhou Guirassy penalty. Two minutes after that penalty, it was Adeyemi once more showing off his left foot. After Maeda failed to control a ball near his own box, it fell to the soon-to-be man of the match, who took one touch to align himself, and though this wasn't quite as aesthetically pleasing as his second goal, the rug-burner of a shot bounced into the bottom corner for the hat trick:

It is perhaps foolish to put so much stock in a one-way traffic Champions League match such as this, but for Adeyemi, this feels more like an arrival than a one-off flash, especially since it's the continuation of his trend of improvement this season. It's that type of growth that was forecast for him two years ago, and it's the type of potential that had big clubs knocking on Dortmund's door this past summer. Even without Adeyemi truly showing what he could do, over the summer Dortmund was able to hold the line, refusing to sell him for anything less than €50 million; Chelsea, Juventus, and Liverpool again were reportedly interested, though perhaps not for that much money. That price of €50 million might turn out to have been a bargain, given how he is performing and how valuable a young, left-footed winger can be in today's transfer market.

It wasn't all sunshine for Adeyemi on Tuesday, though, and his substitution due to a thigh injury in the 48th minute is a bit of a concern. Adeyemi hasn't been injury prone exactly, yet he has missed a handful of games with various lower body injuries; a muscle fiber tear here, a high ankle sprain there. After the game, he gave an encouraging enough update—"I've had something like that a couple of times in the last few years, but it didn't feel as bad as it usually does. Hopefully I'll be back soon"—but it would be a shame if this keeps him on the sidelines while he is in such torrid form. With the international break coming up after this weekend's matches, I wouldn't be shocked to see him rested as Dortmund faces Union Berlin away; it's a tough match, but Dortmund knows how to handle young players and will likely not rush him back if his thigh isn't 100 percent.

And really, with what he has shown so far this season, Dortmund has to know that Adeyemi has become its most prized asset, on top of its best performer so far. This club isn't new at the development game, and Adeyemi isn't even the only youngster showing out this season. English winger Jamie Gittens (he's 20) has scored two goals and secured an assist as a super-sub of sorts in league play, and he drew the first penalty on Tuesday. Soccer is a business, and Dortmund understands that its business model relies on bringing in and then selling on the superstars of tomorrow. That's not to be too cynical about how fun it must be to constantly watch players in those distinctive black and yellow jerseys grow into world beaters. Adeyemi is the latest in a long line of excellence at Dortmund, and he is finally reaching the heights that his club, perhaps other clubs around Europe, and surely he himself expected.