Barcelona’s move for Karim Adeyemi has broken with one of Borussia Dortmund’s most established transfer-market traditions, with the German club accepting a deal that brings almost no profit compared with a long line of hugely lucrative player sales.
The Spanish club confirmed on Thursday that Adeyemi, 24, had joined from Borussia Dortmund for an initial €22m, with a further €7m in add-ons, taking the potential value of the transfer to €29m.
For Dortmund, who have built a modern reputation on buying young talents, developing them and selling at a substantial premium, the figures mark a clear departure from the model that has underpinned their business in recent years, according to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.
Limited return on Adeyemi
Dortmund signed Adeyemi from Red Bull Salzburg in the summer of 2022 for €30m. Selling him to Barcelona now, a year before his contract was due to expire, allows the Bundesliga side to avoid losing him on a free transfer – but it does not generate the kind of margin they usually command.
Instead, the club have effectively cut their losses, accepting a fee that, even if all variables are met, will not exceed the amount originally paid to Salzburg by any significant degree. It is a stark contrast with the sequence of high-gain deals that have shaped Dortmund’s image as one of Europe’s most astute sellers.
Dembele sets the benchmark
Among those transfers, the sale of Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona remains one of the most spectacular.
Dortmund brought in the French winger from Rennes in 2016 for just €15m. One year later, in the summer of 2017, they agreed a move to Barcelona worth €135m including bonuses.
The club therefore generated a profit of €120m on Dembele within a single season, a figure that set a benchmark for subsequent business.
Bellingham and Sancho underline the model
The pattern was repeated with Jude Bellingham, who joined from Birmingham City in 2020 for £29m.
Three years later, the England midfielder completed a transfer to Real Madrid worth £127m, handing Dortmund a profit of about £98m and reinforcing the club’s status as a leading developer and seller of elite young talent.
Jadon Sancho also became a symbol of Dortmund’s philosophy. Signed from Manchester City for around €10m, he was sold to Manchester United just two years later for more than eight times that amount, underlining the club’s ability to turn relatively modest investments into major windfalls.
Pulisic, Aubameyang and Haaland deliver big gains
Dortmund spotted Christian Pulisic at the age of 16 and brought him into their academy in 2015. Within a few years the United States international moved to Chelsea for €64m, adding another substantial success to the club’s transfer record.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang followed a similar path. The Gabon forward arrived from Saint-Etienne in 2013 for €13m. Four seasons later he joined Arsenal for €63m, giving Dortmund a net profit of €50m.
Even in cases where a release clause limited Dortmund’s negotiating power, the club still emerged well ahead financially. Erling Haaland’s move from Red Bull Salzburg in 2019 cost €22m; Manchester City activated his clause in 2023 and signed him for €60m, leaving Dortmund with a €38m profit despite the constraint.
Further examples of Dortmund’s transfer expertise
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens offers another illustration of Dortmund’s strategy. The English winger arrived from Manchester City in 2020 on a free transfer and developed within the German club’s system before joining Chelsea in 2025 for €56m – income that was almost pure profit.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s move also added to the pattern. Dortmund paid Shakhtar Donetsk €25m for the Armenia playmaker in 2013 and sold him to Manchester United three years later for €42m, generating a €17m gain.
Mario Gotze’s departure to Bayern Munich in 2013 further underlined the club’s ability to profit from outgoing deals. Bayern triggered the release clause in his contract and paid €37m, all of which represented net profit for Dortmund. Gotze would go on to score the winning goal for Germany in the 2014 World Cup final.
Adeyemi move emerges as a rare exception
Set against that backdrop, Adeyemi’s transfer to Barcelona stands out as a clear exception.
Dortmund have again acted pragmatically by selling a player with only one year left on his contract, protecting some of their initial outlay. However, unlike the deals involving Dembele, Bellingham, Sancho, Haaland and others, the move does not deliver the sizeable gains that have become synonymous with the club’s activity in the transfer market.
Instead, Adeyemi’s switch to Barcelona is likely to be remembered as one of the few instances in which Borussia Dortmund chose to part with a major player on terms that do not reflect their usual high-profit philosophy.
