Karim Adeyemi has finally arrived at Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi put in yet another strong, albeit brief performance against Hertha Berlin this past weekend, with the German international notching a goal and an assist in a game that helped his side climb up to joint first place with Bayern Munich and Union Berlin.

Since the start of the Rückrunde, the recent and meteoric uptick in form throughout Borussia Dortmund’s squad has been nothing short of remarkable. As we explored recently with the case of Julian Brandt, this uptick has been the product of a healthy BVB squad brimming with talent and competition, running on all cylinders.

Like Julian Brandt, Karim Adeyemi is yet another of this side’s burgeoning star performers. Having had a very slow start to his time at Borussia Dortmund, Adeyemi only showed glimpses of the dazzling RB Salzburg player that had excited fans so much when his signing was announced last summer.

Prior to the break, Adeyemi had only managed to score twice for his new club. The player had also not registered a single assist, leading many, including myself, to question whether Adeyemi was truly suited for the position Edin Terzić was playing him in, namely out wide on the right wing.

And yet, despite this, Adeyemi has now shown that, of the players that Dortmund had played out wide this season, he has certainly developed into the most lethal. Since the turn of the year, Adeyemi has notched four goals and two assists, one of those coming in this weekend’s game against Berlin.

Adeyemi’s electric pace and astute positioning and reactions were all on display against Berlin, with the player reacting very intelligently to Marco Reus’ scuffed shot for the first goal. The German international had the intuition to redirect the ball into the back of the net, making Reus’ attempted shot look like a deliberate assist until Dortmund’s captain admitted to going for goal.

Adeyemi’s assist however was just as, if not more so impressive than his goal. The player left Hertha’s defenders in the dust to play in a sumptuous cross that was capitalized on by Donyell Malen, another player who has struggled since joining Borussia Dortmund.

Adeyemi would go down with a muscle fiber tear due to this sequence of play, but everything from his positioning when he received the ball, to the run itself, and the final cross exemplified much of what Dortmund had been missing in the first half of the season; a player capable of playing out wide and really threatening from that position with pace and directness.

Borussia Dortmund have ailed for a player capable of putting in solid crosses for the strikers to feed off of, and Adeyemi has shown his ability to do so quite efficiently since the start of the Rückrunde. Because of the profile of striker that BVB will be playing with for the foreseeable future (Haller), this will still be an important facet of their game going forward.

Unfortunately, despite the exemplary run of form, Adeyemi looks to be sidelined for three weeks due to his aforementioned injury, which will come as a bitter blow for the player and club alike. Dortmund’s depth is quite impressive at the moment, however, and the likes of Jamie-Bynoe Gittens and Gio Reyna will now get a chance in the spotlight and cover for Adeyemi until he is fit again, and perhaps fight for a place in what has become an extremely competitive Dortmund starting XI.