Chukwubuike Junior Adamu has been linked with Premier League trio West Ham United, Southampton and Leeds but Red Bull Salzburg have not held ‘concrete talks’ with any club, sporting director Christoph Freund tells Krone.
The Austrian Bundesliga champions are used to losing star players every summer. And this year has been no different.
Jesse Marsch has already raided his old employers on two separate occasions. Rampaging right-back Rasmus Kristensen joined Brendan Aaronson at Elland Road. Star striker Karim Adeyemi, meanwhile, took the Erling Haaland route to Borussia Dortmund.
But while Adamu has spent plenty of time in the gossip columns himself, no one has yet firmed up their interest in the £12 million-rated, Nigeria-born Austria international.
“We have some quality strikers, no question. However, there is currently no club with which we have had concrete talks about Junior,” explains Freud.
“Therefore, there is nothing to it.”
Junior Adamu linked with Leeds, West Ham and Southampton
A spring-heeled wideman who can also play through the middle, the similarities between Adamu and former Salzburg star Sadio Mane will not have gone unnoticed at Southampton. Both The Saints and Leicester City put Adamu on their shortlist at the start of the window.
West Ham, per the Daily Mail, were also mentioned as potential destination for a 21-year-old who scored nine goals and provided another five assists in 2021/22. Ditto Leeds (Sky Sports)
Freund, meanwhile, was optimistic when asked about the future of another Salzburg star on Marsch’s radar. Mohamed Camara, a deep-lying playmaker a la Kalvin Phillips, is reportedly a £25 million target for the West Yorkshire giants.
Leeds have, however, snapped up two new midfielders already in Tyler Adams and Marc roca.
“It may be that he stays,” Freund says of Camara.
“I don’t want to raise hopes unnecessarily but that (him staying) can’t be ruled out. He still has three years of his contract. But we’ve always said that we won’t put any obstacles in his way if it suits all parties.”
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