Liverpool boss Slot ‘activates’ £42m signing for 2025 after Reds star’s display slammed as ‘the worst’
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has lined up a deal next year for Borussia Dortmund forward Karim Adeyemi, according to reports.
The Reds have had a very good start to the new season with Slot’s side top of the Premier League after losing just one match to Nottingham Forest in their first six matches.
The Slot era couldn’t have got off to a much better start but the Dutchman still has some issues to deal with as Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold out of contract at the end of the season.
It is still unclear who, if any, will renew their contracts before they expire in June but there are rumours that all three could leave once their deals run out.
And now reports in Spain claim that Slot ‘activates the signing’ of Borussia Dortmund forward Adeyemi and, despite interest from other clubs around Europe, it is Liverpool that ‘seems determined to take the step forward’.
The report adds: ‘The operation would be around 50 million euros, a significant figure for the one who could be the natural replacement for Mohamed Salah , whose future at the English club is increasingly uncertain.’
Adeyemi scored a hat-trick against Celtic in a 7-1 demolition in the Champions League on Wednesday night with the 22-year-old taking his total to five goals in seven matches this season.
Salah’s contract situation has ‘set off alarm bells at Liverpool’ and the Premier League leaders ‘do not want to be surprised by an unexpected exit’.
Slot sees Adeyemi as a ‘reliable replacement’ for the long term with a deal for the Germany international costing Liverpool around €50m (£42m).
It is understood that ‘a significant offer from Liverpool could make him reconsider his future’ with the forward currently happy at Dortmund.
The report adds that ‘with €50 million on the table, the deal could be closed in the coming months’ with Adeyemi ‘shaping up to be Salah’s heir’.
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Former Rangers striker Ally McCoist reckons the contract situations of Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk will be a “dark cloud” hanging over Liverpool until they are resolved one way or another.
McCoist told talkSPORT: “The problem still hanging over the club which they still need to address is the contract situations. We’re talking about three of their most important players, they have to do something about it. If not, that dark cloud will hang over the playing staff and the fans until it’s resolved.
“In an ideal world they would keep hold of all three of Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk. All three of them are fabulous football players and top professionals. However, they can’t afford to just keep them for one season and then let them go on a free. Anyone with business sense will tell you that you cannot let assets worth tens of millions of pounds leave for nothing.
“The most important thing for the fans is the football team on the pitch, but they’ll realise that the club has to be run smartly with a proper business model. For that reason, they need to get the situation ironed out sooner rather than later.”
On Liverpool’s start to the new season, McCoist added: “I’ve enjoyed what Liverpool have been doing so far this season under Arne Slot.They’ve had a really solid start and aside from one loss, they’ve been really good. I’ve also liked listening to Slot, he sounds like the real deal both before and after games. I think Liverpool fans will be giving him big pass marks at this moment in time.
“They had one blip losing to Nottingham Forest at home, and they surprised me with the lack of opportunities they created in that game. I’ve always looked at Liverpool as a team who a great going forward, creating lots of chances and scoring goals, but they weren’t at it in that particular game. But that can happen to any team, we’ve all had games like that.”
Liverpool beat Bologna 2-0 on Wednesday night and the Italian press singled out Darwin Nunez for criticism with the Gazzetta Dello Sport insisting thr Uruguay international was ‘the worst’ for the Reds.
Gazzetta added that he was ‘not very effective’, while another Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport gave Nunez a 5.5 rating after the win over the Serie A side.
