I was set to be Manchester United’s version of superstar Dani Alves - now I'm a free agent at 27 with no club
The former Manchester United wonderkid was once compared to Dani Alves and played for the United States - so what happened to Old Trafford’s rising star?
Plenty of talented teenagers have found themselves on the cusp of Manchester United’s first team without quite making their name at the highest level – but few of them go on to be both a full international and a free agent without a club at the age of just 27.
Matthew Olosunde’s career has not quite panned out as he once might have hoped. Compared to Dani Alves when he began training with the first team at Old Trafford, he’s gone from playing for the United States to playing just one match in two years. So what happened, and how did a prospect who drew praise from his coaches at United wind up being released by a team in the Welsh Premier League?
What happened to former Manchester United full-back Matthew Olosunde?
The Philadelphia-born Olosunde was only 17 when it was announced that he was joining Manchester United. A product of the New York Red Bulls academy who had represented the US at the Under-17 World Cup, he had already committed to playing college football at North Carolina’s prestigious Duke University but changed his mind when given the chance to play for United.
Not that the glamour of the Premier League was enough to persuade him to make the transatlantic switch on its own. Reports at the time suggested that Olosunde only agreed to the move when United agreed to enrol him in an online course from the University of Oxford to make up for the Duke education he was missing out on.
Still, everything went well to start with. By the age of 19 he was training with the first team and made it as far as the bench under José Mourinho, and was even nominated for a goal of the month award for a pre-season strike scored in his home country.
The Sun wrote an article about him comparing him to Barcelona and Brazil wing-back Dani Alves, and Olosunde, who started his career as a winger before moving back into defence, was described by United youth coach Nicky Butt as “someone we’re really excited about.”
The American national team were fans, too. Having represented his country through the age groups to Under-23 level, the defender was handed a senior debut in 2018, coming on as a second-half substitute against Bolivia.
In the end, Olosunde never made his debut for United and was released in 2019 having never quite made the grade, and a second cap for his country never arrived. Still, there was plenty of room for him to have a fine career even if the Alves comparison was a little much to live up to.
He spent the next two seasons playing for Rotherham United, earning promotion from League One in his first year and remaining a regular starter in his second season – scoring his first professional goal against Everton in the FA Cup - before declining a contract extension in order to sign for Preston North End. Sadly, it was in Lancashire that his career unravelled.
Significant Achilles and groin injuries were the culprit. Over the two years of his contract with Preston, Olosunde was only able to make three appearances and struggled desperately for fitness. When he left the club in 2023, it took him eight months to find a new team.
The fresh start in Wales that turned out to be a false dawn
In February 2024, a chance at a fresh start finally arrived, with perennial Welsh title contenders The New Saints – TNS, as they are often called. Not only did they offer the opportunity for Olosunde to get his fitness back, but also a chance to play in Europe for the first time.
"It was only when I signed for them that I really learned about them,” Olosunde told ManchesterWorld last year. “It is a team that came as a surprise because it wasn't really what I was expecting.
"I think that's the main goal… To start playing again, get more games under my belt, and start finding that love for the game again. It is just trying to find my feet again and get things kicking."
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Sadly, Olosunde’s body didn’t oblige. TNS played in both the Europa League and Conference League while he was at the club, but he was never able to make it past the bench in continental games and in the end was only capable of playing a single, solitary match for the club – against Aberystwyth Town.
At the end of the 2024/25 season, Olosunde was released by TNS and has yet to find a new side. Persistent injuries have brutalised a promising career, and it remains to be seen whether he can find another team to take a chance on him, or what condition he’s in as it stands. Perhaps his health will allow him one last shot at a professional career, in the UK or back in his home country, but as it stands he is a player without a club and without any luck.