On the contrary, let's look at some who were transferred directly to a top club, without the 'intermediate step' somewhere like BVB:
Minamino ->benchwarmer at Liverpool
Rodrigo -> benchwarmer at RM
Yusuf Demir -> not even benchwarmer at Barca
and many others...
Vinicius is an exception, but that can happen when they are coming from Brazil in some cases.
When they are coming from Europe, not so much...
They need that 'intermediate' step of BVB, Leipzig or Arsenal, Atalanta, etc if you want, for their development
Dude, what is the discussion here?
Because we are basically moving between topics
You make few claims:
A-Wonderkids stopped going to big clubs directly because they are smarter:
Simple answer that this is factually incorrect. Only way you think this way is if you look only to clubs like Dortmund and ignore dozens of "wonderkid" that join big clubs on annual basis.
B-You don't even identify wonderkid. What is it exactly in the context of this discussion?
Is Minamino at the age of 25 a wonderkid? same way as Demir at the age of 18? Both coming from same league too
I would call bs on that.
Same with putting 22 years old Lewa joining BVB at same bracket as 17 years old Bellingham or Sancho joining BVB directly from youth systems, or put either of those at same bracket of Adeyemi, who is proven in CL football and doing great in his league.
C-Smart move is to join Dortmund before big clubs.
This is again a wide discussion, because wonderkid in your argument goes from 17 years old Bellingham to 25 years old Minamino.
The truth is, as BBZ always love to remind us, is the odds are usually against
And every case is different from the other.
Adeyemi for example made the right decision for himself to not join Barca B in 2019, and continue to wait in Salzburg.
But Salzburg in itself is an intermediary club, and going to BVB can't grantee anything for him other than a chance to show himself
D- That there is a ladder for players: But that ladder isn't always linear, some player move to big clubs then to smaller ones then to big clubs again, and usually it is helpful process, other actually move down as they age for whatever reasons while some players are ready to skip that ladder to the top
So what does a player like Adeyemi see himself is the question. How he accurately assess himself is the smart thing.