Demi Akarakiri Set to Join Cagliari from Everton
Demi Akarakiri is on the brink of walking away from Everton’s pathway and straight into the Serie A spotlight with Cagliari.
The 18-year-old midfielder, who only arrived at Finch Farm in 2024 after a decade in Arsenal’s academy, has signalled his departure with a simple but telling message. A post on his Instagram account carried a “thank you” to Everton, a public nod that his time on Merseyside is coming to an end.
It marks a sharp turn from the club’s own stance earlier in the summer. On June 10, as Everton confirmed they were still in talks with Idrissa Gueye over his future, they also announced that Akarakiri had been offered a new contract. Melvin Matos and Rocco Lambert received the same proposal. Others in the Under-18s group were not so fortunate: Goodness Gospel-Eze, Louis Poland, Charlie Stewart and Kean Wren were told they would depart when their deals expired at the end of June.
Akarakiri was meant to be part of the next wave. Instead, he has chosen a different route.
The London-born midfielder is now closing in on Cagliari, a club that finished 14th in Serie A last season under Fabio Pisacane and is quietly trying to reinvent itself. For Akarakiri, the attraction is clear: a faster, less congested road to senior football than the one available at Goodison Park.
Reports in Italy underline how advanced the move has become. Sport Witness, citing Corriere dello Sport, revealed on Friday that Akarakiri underwent a medical in Rome on Thursday and is expected to sign a five-year contract with the Sardinian side. Five years is a statement, not a trial.
Inside Cagliari, the deal is being framed as a strategic coup. The Italian report describes the signing as “a significant coup by new sporting director Pietro Accardi,” a line that underlines how highly the club rates the teenager. The plan is clear: identify young talent at a relatively low cost, develop it, and sell at a premium. Akarakiri fits that model perfectly.
The excitement is not confined to the boardroom. President Tommaso Giulini has already hinted strongly at what awaits the midfielder. He has suggested that a teenager arriving from the Premier League is not being brought in just to bolster the youth ranks. The message is bolder than that: Cagliari are pitching an immediate place in their senior matchday squads.
For a player still waiting for a first-team breakthrough in England, that kind of promise can be decisive. At Everton, the path is crowded, the pressure enormous, and the margin for error small. In Sardinia, Akarakiri will walk into a club eager to showcase him, to build value, and to lean on his energy in a league that still prizes tactical education and technical growth.
Everton, for their part, lose a prospect they had hoped to keep, one they had formally tried to tie down earlier this month. Cagliari gain a young midfielder with Premier League academy schooling and the ambition to leave that comfort behind.
If the contract is signed as expected, Akarakiri will swap the promise of “one day” at Goodison for the reality of “right now” in Serie A. For an 18-year-old, it is a brave move. For Cagliari and Accardi, it is exactly the kind of gamble they intend to build their future on.
