REPORT 🚨🚨Liverpool transfer news: Arne Slot lining up shock £42m bid for Champions League star?

‘surprise’ target for Liverpool

Liverpool have entered the race to sign Borussia Dortmund attacker Karim Adeyemi, according to a report.

The 22-year-old has spent the last two-and-a-half seasons at the Bundesliga club, scoring 19 goals and providing 13 assists in 74 appearances across all competitions.

Adeyemi has made an electric start to the new campaign, scoring five goals and assisting five more in just eight appearances, already bettering the five goals and two assists that he contributed in 34 games across the entirety of last season.

The Germany international produced a man-of-the-match performance in Dortmund’s thumping 7-1 victory over Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday, netting a 31-minute first-half hat-trick and registering an assist.

Adeyemi has featured regularly under new head coach Nuri Sahin and is regarded as an important first-team player, but the youngster has been linked with a potential exit in the New Year.

Champions League hat-trick hero a ‘surprise’ target for Liverpool

Liverpool have scouted Adeyemi ‘several times’

In the summer, it was reported that Chelsea held talks with Adeyemi’s representatives, but a transfer to Stamford Bridge ultimately failed to materialise for the attacker.

Liverpool have since been credited with an interest in Adeyemi, with German news outlet Bild claiming that the Reds ‘have entered the poker game’ for the Dortmund star.

The report adds that Liverpool have had scouts observing Adeyemi ‘several times’ in the Bundesliga and have identified him as a potential successor to star man Mohamed Salah.

Speculation over Salah’s long-term future is rife at present, with the Saudi-linked attacker set to see his current contract at Anfield expire in the summer of 2025.

Champions League hat-trick hero a ‘surprise’ target for Liverpool

Liverpool to bid £41.7m for Adeyemi?

Liverpool are said to be willing to pay a transfer fee of €50m (£41.7m) to secure the services of Adeyemi, who is under contract at Westfalenstadion until June 2027.

Adeyemi has suggested that he is content at his current club Dortmund, telling Bild on Tuesday: “I feel great here in Dortmund. I was already a big fan as a little boy.”

Discussing his hat-trick performance, the German added: “I had a good start. I set myself to get at least one goal. Today, every shot went in.”

Adeyemi is not the only attack-minded player said to be on Liverpool’s radar, as the likes of Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo, Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams and Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane have all been linked with a possible switch to Anfield.