Akol’s siblings gave up football so he could chase his dream. Now he’s worth millions

The 17-year-old is preparing to move his life to the other side of the planet, having agreed to a transfer worth up to $2.5 million to Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids – the same team that helped turn Socceroo Lucas Herrington into a $33 million Premier League player.

Last season, he became the youngest ever player to suit up in an A-League grand final, and on Friday, he’ll start his final season for his club, Sydney FC, with a derby against the Western Sydney Wanderers , where he spent his junior years before they inexplicably let him slip through their fingers to their crosstown rivals.

As one of Australia’s hottest young talents, who has already represented the under-23 Olyroos, despite being nearly six years below the age cut-off, he’ll be one of the A-League’s top attractions between now and his departure next year.

The spotlight is now firmly fixed on him, and with any luck, it’ll be that way until he retires from football.

Asked if it’s been difficult to juggle everything lately, Akon replies with a nonchalance that seems to come naturally: “Not really, aye.”

“I kind of don’t really focus on anything, more just where I am presently. I just let everything fly by,” he says. “I’ve always been like that. I don’t let things come to my head. I just do what I can, be me, and whatever comes, comes.”

It’s an almost absurdly relaxed outlook for a guy who cannot buy alcohol in Australia until May. That’s when he turns 18, and that’s why he’ll be with Sydney FC for another season: because FIFA rules generally prohibit players from making international transfers until that age. It works out for all concerned, since Akon wanted to spend another season in the A-League to keep developing, and now he can do it without transfer speculation hanging over his head.

There’s more than a hint of Herrington in the way Akon has been able to take everything so far in his stride. But as a player, there’s shades of Nestory Irankunda ; maybe he doesn’t have the same raw, explosive power, or set-piece wizardry (from we’ve seen so far, anyway), but he does have the same sort of fearlessness, directness and unpredictability that makes defenders tremble in their boots at the mere thought of being isolated against him one-on-one. And he does celebrate goals with a backflip, too.

When they signed him, Colorado Rapids sporting director Fran Taylor described Akon as having “uncommon physical and competitive maturity”, and watching him play, that checks out – although it possibly understates his level of creative nous, which is also rare for an out-and-out winger.

It helps that Akon grew up with plenty of practice taking on opponents. As the fourth-oldest of eight children from a South Sudanese family from Sydney’s west, the numbers were always there to organise a pick-up game at short notice.

“It’s not good,” he says. “If anyone says it’s good having seven siblings, they’re lying. It’s not fun.

“I don’t know, man. There’s just too much people at once in one house, and then you just get overstimulated and stuff. But at the end of it, you have fun when you’re growing up.