Demi Akarakiri Set to Join Cagliari from Everton

Demi Akarakiri is on the brink of walking away from Everton and straight into Serie A, with Cagliari poised to hand the teenager the first-team platform he has been chasing.

The 18-year-old midfielder, who only arrived at Finch Farm in 2024 after a decade in Arsenal’s academy, appeared to confirm his Goodison exit himself. A post on his Instagram account carried a pointed “thank you” to Everton, a farewell message rather than a pre-season reset.

It comes just weeks after the club publicly placed him among their plans. On June 10, while Everton were outlining ongoing talks with Idrissa Gueye over the veteran’s future, they also announced that Akarakiri had been offered a new deal. Melvin Matos and Rocco Lambert were in the same bracket, with fellow Under-18s prospects Goodness Gospel-Eze, Louis Poland, Charlie Stewart and Kean Wren told they would depart when their contracts expired at the end of June.

Everton opened the door. Akarakiri has chosen a different corridor.

The London-born midfielder has decided his route to senior football lies not in the Premier League grind but on the Sardinian coast. Cagliari, who finished 14th in Serie A last season under Fabio Pisacane, are ready to give him that chance.

Reports in Italy, relayed by Sport Witness from Corriere dello Sport, say Akarakiri underwent a medical in Rome on Thursday and is expected to sign a five-year contract. For a player who has yet to taste senior football, that is a bold commitment from a club looking to punch above its financial weight.

Inside Cagliari, the move is being treated as a statement. The signing of Akarakiri is described as a “significant coup” for new sporting director Pietro Accardi, a marker of a clear strategy: identify talent early, buy smart, develop quickly, sell high. Cagliari want to operate in the gaps the richer clubs leave behind.

The message from the boardroom has matched that ambition. President Tommaso Giulini has openly hinted at the deal, stressing that a teenager arriving from the Premier League is not crossing to Italy just to disappear into youth fixtures. The pitch is simple and direct – an immediate place in the senior matchday setup, not a distant promise.

For Akarakiri, that is the lure. At Everton, the pathway to Sean Dyche’s first team is notoriously unforgiving for young midfielders, squeezed between experienced operators and the pressure of a club constantly fighting on financial and competitive fronts. At Cagliari, the proposition is different: adapt quickly, and the shirt is there to be claimed.

If the paperwork lands as expected, an 18-year-old who left Arsenal for Merseyside in search of opportunity will now try to find it in Serie A. Everton lose a prospect they wanted to keep. Cagliari gain a project they believe can grow – and pay back – at speed.