Demi Akarakiri Leaves Everton for Cagliari: A Bold Move to Serie A
Demi Akarakiri is on the brink of leaving Everton for Cagliari, chasing the one thing every gifted teenager craves but so few actually get: a clear road to first-team football.
The 18-year-old midfielder, who only joined Everton in 2024 after a decade in Arsenal’s academy, appears to have said his goodbyes. A message on his Instagram account thanking the club signalled what many inside Finch Farm already suspected – his future lies elsewhere.
Everton had not planned to lose him. On June 10, when the club confirmed they were still in talks with Idrissa Gueye over his future, they also revealed that Akarakiri had been offered a new deal, alongside Melvin Matos and Rocco Lambert. At the same time, they announced that fellow Under-18s players Goodness Gospel-Eze, Louis Poland, Charlie Stewart and Kean Wren would depart at the end of their contracts in June.
Akarakiri was meant to be part of the next wave. Instead, he has chosen a different route.
A calculated leap to Italy
Cagliari, who finished 14th in Serie A last season under Fabio Pisacane, have moved quickly. According to reports in Italy, relayed by Sport Witness, Akarakiri underwent a medical in Rome on Thursday and is expected to sign a five-year contract.
For a player still short of his 19th birthday, that is a serious commitment. For Cagliari, it is a statement.
Corriere dello Sport described the deal as a significant coup for new sporting director Pietro Accardi, with the Sardinian club shifting towards a model built on smart, low-cost recruitment and high-value sales. Akarakiri fits that profile perfectly: Premier League-schooled, technically polished, and available before his value truly spikes.
The strategy is clear. Buy young. Develop quickly. Sell high.
From academy promise to senior opportunity
What makes this move stand out is not just the length of the contract or the clubs involved, but the role being promised. Cagliari president Tommaso Giulini has openly hinted that this is no simple youth-team addition. A teenager arriving from the Premier League, he suggested, is not crossing to Italy just to disappear into the academy system.
The message is blunt: Akarakiri is being pitched an immediate place in the senior matchday setup.
That is the kind of offer that can turn a contract proposal from Everton into a polite “thank you” and a firm “no.” At Goodison, the pathway is crowded, the pressure relentless, the margin for young midfielders slim. At Cagliari, the door is being held open.
For a Londoner who has already uprooted once, leaving Arsenal for Everton in search of progress, the pattern continues. This is a player clearly unwilling to wait in line.
A quiet exit, a bold move
Everton’s stance has been formal and restrained: an offer on the table, an acknowledgement of his development, then silence as the situation moved towards Italy. There has been no public fallout, no noise. Just a teenager making a sharp, career-first decision.
Cagliari, by contrast, are not hiding their intent. A long contract, the backing of a new sporting director, and the president hinting at immediate senior involvement – all of it points to a club that believes it has stolen a march on bigger names by moving early.
If the deal is finalised as expected, Akarakiri will arrive in Sardinia as a prospect, not a star. But he will also arrive with something far more valuable than another academy season in England: the chance to prove, quickly, whether he belongs on a Serie A pitch.
