Chelsea almost had a deal struck for German superkid Karim Adeyemi three years ago.
Adeyemi is the latest to come through RB Salzburg's incredible production line, joining the likes of Erling Haaland, Patson Daka and Dayot Upamecano in recent years.
Back in 2018, Adeyemi was coming up through the SpVgg Unterhaching academy, a fourth-tier German club back in his hometown of Munich.
Their chairman Manfred Schwabl revealed: “In 2018 we received an inquiry from a scout from Chelsea. He had a contract with us at the time.
“My contact with Karim's family was very close. I then said that it would be a great story if we could look at it together on site. Then his dad, my daughter, Karim and I flew over and we went to see it at Chelsea.
“That was a really interesting experience and Karim also did well. He even trained with the older age group and left his mark.
“But for us and the parents it was always clear that this step to the island [England] at the age of 16 is still too big. Chelsea wanted him to join the academy, but we said we wanted Karim under our own wing."
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