Who is Matai Akinmboni? Bournemouth sign talented center-back from D.C. United

Now official 

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D.C. United have sold highly talented center-back Matai Akinmboni to Bournemouth. According to the Washington Post, the Major League Soccer club will receive an initial €1.5m plus add-ons that could see the deal grow to around €2.5m. The deal also includes the usual sell-on understood to be about 20%. The initial fee makes Akinmboni the third most expensive departure in club history (overview).

“We are delighted to sign Matai to a long-term deal with AFC Bournemouth,” said Bournemouth technical director Simon Francis in a club statement. “He is an exciting young player we have been monitoring for an extended period and have been impressed by his progress. Matai is a player we believe has a very bright future, and we are looking forward to seeing him develop with us.”

Akinmboni becomes the latest talent developed by D.C. United to make the jump to Europe. Akinmboni joins defender Donovan Pines (Barnsley) and wingers Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg) and Griffin Yow (Westerlo) as players developed by D.C. United, who now play in Europe. Additionally, Kristian Fletcher is on loan at Nottingham Forest.

“Matai is an outstanding young talent, and we couldn’t be prouder of him taking the next step in his career to compete in the Premier League,” D.C.’s general manager Ally Mackay said in a club statement. But what sort of player is the young defender? The now 18-year-old became the second youngest player behind a certain Freddy Adu when he made his MLS debut at 15 years, 10 months, and 25 days during the 2022 season (overview).

Since his debut, Akinmboni has added another 16 first-team appearances and also played 14 games for the affiliate club Loudoun United in the USL Championship. Standing tall at 188cm, Akinmboni can also play as a left-back. While still very raw, the 18-year-old, who has represented the United States at the U19 and U20 level but can also play for Nigeria, is perhaps the biggest center-back talent in MLS.