Karim Adeyemi beats de Ligt, others to be named Bundesliga Rookie of the Season
The nominees were made up of the six players to have been previously voted Rookie of the Month throughout the campaign.
Nigeria-born Germany forward Karim Adeyemi has been awarded the Bundesliga Rookie of the Season 2022/23 prize, presented by Sorare.
The Borussia Dortmund youngster won the vote ahead of Lee Buchanan, Tom Krauß, Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe, Henning Matriciani and Matthijs de Ligt.
The nominees were made up of the six players to have been previously voted Rookie of the Month throughout the campaign.
Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund) – Fastest man in league explodes onto Bundesliga scene
There is nobody as fast as Adeyemi. Quite literally – with the Germany international clocking up a phenomenal pace of 36.65 km/h during the course of the season to beat the record previously held by Bayern Munich speedster Alphonso Davies (36.53 km/h).
Despite Adeyemi’s raw pace, the summer signing from Red Bull Salzburg made a relatively slow start to life in the Bundesliga.
The attacker made regular appearances before the winter break but wasn’t able to score or assist in that time.
That situation has completely changed in the new year. The 21-year-old has since smashed six goals and provided five assists in just 11 appearances, with injury limiting his playing time.
Adeyemi was the deserved winner of the Rookie of the Month title in January – and had he not experienced injury problems, he surely would have taken more honours in the following months.
A delighted Edin Terzic said at the start of the year: “He is doing really, really good right now, and we just hope that we can keep on having so much fun with him in the team.”
Adeyemi certainly has not disappointed his coach, who had a big part to play in the forward's rocketing form. Terzic moved the left-footer over to the left flank from the right, with Adeyemi more inclined to keep the play out wide on his natural side or chase past the opposition defensive line.
That has enabled Dortmund to get behind numerous defences with quite staggering results.
Dortmund have clocked up a Bundesliga-best 53 goals since the winter break. Should their attacking machine keep on firing in the final two matches, Adeyemi has every hope of adding another trophy to his collection – the Bundesliga title.
