Soccer
Just how excited are San Diego FC about acquiring Manu Duah, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft?
Head coach Mikey Varas believes the Ghanaian holding midfielder, a Generation adidas signing out of UC Santa Barbara, could be a star in the making for the expansion club.
“With Manu, it was very, very obvious that this is a player with tremendous potential. A player who’s already good but can improve a lot,” Varas told reporters during a virtual press conference amid Friday’s draft.
“He can be a player who dominates MLS in a few years.”
Busquets influence
With an imposing 6-foot-4 frame and a budding skillset that saw him start all 14 games he played in during his freshman year at UCSB, Duah checks all the boxes SDFC were looking for when adding to a midfield that already includes Jeppe Tverskov, Aníbal Godoy and Heine Gikling Bruseth.
“He’s a mix of ball-playing No. 6, someone who’s gonna help us implement our style of play in terms of taking initiative with the ball,” Varas said.
Duah’s tactical and physical attributes remind Varas of Sergio Busquets, the FC Barcelona and Spain legend who’s a key piece of Inter Miami CF‘s superstar-studded lineup.
“He’s my favorite player,” Duah said of Busquets. “I like his style of play. And that’s the most that I really get from him, by learning how he plays.
“One more thing that I’ve added is I’m more athletic than Busquets, that’s the only difference. But he’s really, really good. I like his style of play, I like how they build through him. So I like teams that really, really like building through the 6.”
— San Diego FC (@sandiegofc) December 20, 2024
Chucky inspiration
Duah will soon share the locker room with another world-renowned superstar: Chucky Lozano. The Mexican winger is the foundational piece of San Diego’s inaugural 2025 season, formally arriving from Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven at year’s end.
“I want to get to the place that he is, that’s the dream. Play just like he did, get to the high level that he did. I’m ready to learn from him, just to know everything, how he got there,” Duah said of Lozano.
“Everything that he did to get there, I want to be able to do that.”
Read MoreQiana Lanz