Michael Dokunmu: Seven interesting facts about South Africa U17 star eligible for Nigeria

Published: May 06, 2023

Michael Dokunmu is a versatile midfielder that plays for the youth teams of Dutch Eredivisie side Vitesse Arnhem.

Dokunmu currently represents the South Africa's U17 national team and it is all but confirmed that he will be named in the starting lineup against the Golden Eaglets on Saturday evening.

Aged 17, he is one of the vital players of the Amajimbos of South Africa, having started the opening two games of the ongoing 2023 U17 AFCON, scoring one goal.

Below are seven things you should know about the talented midfielder tipped for big things in the future.

1) Dokunmu was born in Kimberley, South Africa to a Nigerian father and a South African mother on the 9th of April 2006.

2) He is eligible to play for Nigeria through his father and South Africa through his mother. He is also eligible to play for the Netherlands through residency and was called up a Netherlands U17 training camp in Janaury 2023.

3) The midfielder had stops at Little Kickers, Old Parks, Randburg FC and SuperSport United, before his move to Vitesse.

4) Dokunmu signed his first professional contract in 2022 and he is the third-youngest debutant in the club's history, albeit his first appearance for the first team was in a friendly, aged 16 years, 11 months and 19 days.

5) He announced that he will be representing South Africa last month and became provisionally cap-tied to his country of birth when he started their 2-0 loss to Morocco on matchday one of the ongoing Africa U17 Cup of Nations.

6) Dokunmu speaks three languages : Afrikaans, Dutch and English.

7) He has cited Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić as his idol.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

Photo Credit : safa.net

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