There’s a lot going on in Akol Akon’s world.
The 17-year-old is preparing to move his life to the other side of the planet, having agreed to a transfer worth up to $2.5 million to Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids – the same team that helped turn Socceroo Lucas Herrington into a $33 million Premier League player.
Last season, he became the youngest ever player to suit up in an A-League grand final, and on Friday, he’ll start his final season for his club, Sydney FC, with a derby against the Western Sydney Wanderers, where he spent his junior years before they inexplicably let him slip through their fingers to their crosstown rivals.
As one of Australia’s hottest young talents, who has already represented the under-23 Olyroos, despite being nearly six years below the age cut-off, he’ll be one of the A-League’s top attractions between now and his departure next year.
The spotlight is now firmly fixed on him, and with any luck, it’ll be that way until he retires from football.
So, how on earth does he deal with it all?
He doesn’t.
Asked if it’s been difficult to juggle everything lately, Akon replies with a nonchalance that seems to come naturally: “Not really, aye.”
“I kind of don’t really focus on anything, more just where I am presently. I just let everything fly by,” he says. “I’ve always been like that. I don’t let things come to my head. I just do what I can, be me, and whatever comes, comes.”
It’s an almost absurdly relaxed outlook for a guy who cannot buy alcohol in Australia until May. That’s when he turns 18, and that’s why he’ll be with Sydney FC for another season: because FIFA rules generally prohibit players from making international transfers until that age. It works out for all concerned, since Akon wanted to spend another season in the A-League to keep developing, and now he can do it without transfer speculation hanging over his head.
There’s more than a hint of Herrington in the way Akon has been able to take everything so far in his stride. But as a player, there’s shades of Nestory Irankunda; maybe he doesn’t have the same raw, explosive power, or set-piece wizardry (from we’ve seen so far, anyway), but he does have the same sort of fearlessness, directness and unpredictability that makes defenders tremble in their boots at the mere thought of being isolated against him one-on-one. And he does celebrate goals with a backflip, too.
When they signed him, Colorado Rapids sporting director Fran Taylor described Akon as having “uncommon physical and competitive maturity”, and watching him play, that checks out – although it possibly understates his level of creative nous, which is also rare for an out-and-out winger.
It helps that Akon grew up with plenty of practice taking on opponents. As the fourth-oldest of eight children from a South Sudanese family from Sydney’s west, the numbers were always there to organise a pick-up game at short notice.
“It’s not good,” he says. “If anyone says it’s good having seven siblings, they’re lying. It’s not fun.
“I don’t know, man. There’s just too much people at once in one house, and then you just get overstimulated and stuff. But at the end of it, you have fun when you’re growing up. You can just ask your brothers, ‘Let’s go kick a ball,’ or ask your sisters, ‘Can you teach me how to do this and this and that?’”
Akon was born in Sydney and grew up around Mount Druitt and St. Marys, surrounded by not only his siblings but extended family, for whom football is in the blood. His parents moved to Australia from South Sudan several years before he was born, although he doesn’t know much about the circumstances that brought them here.
“I don’t know the full details because they haven’t told me yet. They probably think I’m too young or something,” he says.
But with so many kids, the cost and logistics of junior football eventually became too much. And here’s where Akon’s story has further parallels with Irankunda, and many other emerging African-Australian players: some of his siblings had to give the game away so that the family could afford his registration fees.
“At times, you feel bad because they also love the sport a lot,” Akon says.
“And since they had to stop because of me, it’s a bit of pressure on me. But then it’s like, ‘OK, now I have to do you proud’ and stuff. It obviously hurts that I had to see my brothers stop – because who knows, they could have been with me. But that’s how our life is.
“To be honest, they make it easy for me because they’re very supportive. When they stopped, they were kind of just like, ‘Now it’s your turn to do it for us, and we’re here for you.’”
That’s precisely what he intends to do.
The Akon family is slowly getting used to the idea of Akol becoming an international footballer, and the financial rewards that could come with it. If he fulfils his potential, his parents may not have to work again.
“That’s the plan,” he says.
“I play football for my family. They’ve done so much for me; I want to just do the same thing back. Obviously, you want to make your parents retire at an early age or something, what everyone says. But yeah, for me, that’s my goal: make my parents proud and help them financially.”
For now, though, as Akon said, there’s a more immediate focus: playing one more season for Sydney FC and hopefully delivering a trophy or two by the time he has to pack up and leave.
That mission begins against the Wanderers, who he has already faced twice before. Last season, he produced three assists in a memorable 4-1 derby win, which may have alerted clubs like Colorado to his sky-high potential. With his transfer future now settled, there will be more attention on him than ever before.
Surprise, surprise: that doesn’t faze him at all.
“Just take it as another derby, to be honest. That’s how I took the last two,” he said.
“Just playing me, man. Don’t let the game take charge: just do what I can do. It’s a derby. You want to be hyped. Obviously, I’m hyped, I’m excited, and it’s round one; even better. People watching me? I mean, it’s good. But for me, I just want to play the game and help the team.”
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