Move over Freddy Adu, there’s a new kid in town. Real Salt Lake have announced they’ll be signing 14 year old Axel Kei to a homegrown contract. The signing makes Kei the youngest player in MLS history to be signed to a professional contract, besting former teenage sensation Freddy Adu’s mark by 153 days.
Kei will be inking a two year deal with RSL making him the 5th RSL Academy prospect to sign with the club in the past week.
The teenager is widely regarded as one of the country’s top soccer prospects and has already appeared in a USL match this past fall. Real Salt Lake General Manager Elliot Fall stated “His propensity in front of goal is well beyond his years, and coupled with his elite athleticism, he projects to become a goal-scoring force in our league in the years to come.”
Already standing 6’4” tall and weighing in at 183lbs, Kei towers over his peers and has demonstrated no hesitation playing against older competition throughout his soccer career. In 2021 the wunderkind helped lead RSL Academy’s U15 squad to the first-ever MLS Next Cup Championship. Kei scored five goals in five games, and also posted a hat trick against Southern California’s Total Futbol Academy.
Following the U15 championship, Kei moved up to the U17 division with RSL Academy. There he didn’t miss a beat scoring 6 goals in 6 games and regularly looking like a man amongst boys in spite of his actual age.
Kei was born in the Ivory Coast but was raised primarily in Brazil where his father played soccer professionally. In 2017, his family relocated Stateside and settled down in San Diego where Kei was initially involved with LA Galaxy academy teams.
The uber talented forward is believed to be the youngest player to ever participate as a professional in American sports history when he took the field for the Real Monarchs. At the time he was 13 years, 8 months and 9 days old. Comparatively, no one younger than 15 has ever suited up for a top level European club across the Atlantic.
RSL is slated to open their MLS season on February 2nd against the Houston Dynamo.