Danny Namaso

Danny Namaso
Personal information
Full name Daniel Namaso Edi-Mesumbe Loader[1]
Date of birth (2000-08-28) 28 August 2000 (age 24)[2]
Place of birth Reading, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.82 m)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Porto
Number 19
Youth career
Wycombe Wanderers
2012–2017 Reading
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2020 Reading 28 (1)
2020–2022 Porto B 63 (22)
2021– Porto 53 (7)
International career‡
2015–2016 England U16 11 (2)
2016–2017 England U17 14 (6)
2017–2018 England U18 7 (0)
2018–2019 England U19 10 (4)
2019 England U20 9 (1)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  England
FIFA U17 World Cup
Winner 2017 India
UEFA European U17 Championship
Runner-up 2017 Croatia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:22, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 November 2019

Daniel Namaso Edi-Mesumbe Loader (born 28 August 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Primeira Liga club Porto.

Club career

Reading

Namaso was born in Reading, Berkshire, and started his career in the youth team of Wycombe Wanderers before joining the under-13 side at his hometown club Reading in 2012.[3] He studied at Leighton Park School and then The Forest School. In 2016 he won the Maurice Edelston Memorial Trophy for the best academy schoolboy at the club.[4] In the summer of 2016 he started a two-year scholarship, but was quickly promoted to the under-23 side after a number of games and went on to represent the side in the EFL Trophy campaign.[3]

He made his professional debut for the first team at the age of sixteen in August 2017, coming on as a substitute for Leandro Bacuna in extra time in the 3–1 victory over Millwall in the EFL Cup.[5] In the process he became only the third Reading player to make his debut under the age of seventeen.[3] At the end of the month he signed his first professional contract when he turned seventeen.[6] Prolific for the youth team, he was given a chance in the first team under José Gomes and became the youngest Reading player to reach 20 appearances.[7] On 27 April, he scored his first senior goal against Middlesbrough.[8] Namaso was close to a move to Wolverhampton Wanderers before Wolves pulled out of the move due to Reading upping the price at the last moment.[9] A few days later he scored the winning penalty in round 2 of the EFL Cup against Wycombe Wanderers.[10]

Porto

On 20 August 2020, FC Porto announced the signing of Namaso for Porto B, on a two-year contract.[11] He made 32 appearances for the reserve team in his first season, finishing with 8 goals, the highest tally on the team. Namaso began the following season with Porto B and went on to score 15 goals. He was named in the senior squad for the first time for a league match against Boavista on 30 October.[12] He came off the bench late in the match to replace centre-forward Evanilson, and he scored in added time, sealing a 4–1 win.[13]

Namaso started the 2022–23 season by winning the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira after being handed a surprising first start for Porto in a game that they ran out 3–0 winners over Tondela.[14]

On 23 January 2024, Namaso extended his contract with Porto until June 2028.[15]

International career

Namaso is eligible to represent England and Cameroon. He has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 level and under-20.[4] He was a member of the England U-17 team that finished runners-up to Spain in the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship held in May in Croatia, making a total of five appearances in the tournament.[3]

In September 2017, Namaso was called up to England U17 team for the 2017 FIFA U17 World Cup.[16] Loader scored twice in a group stage game against Iraq[17] and came off the bench in the quarter-final against the United States.[18] He did not feature in the final as England defeated Spain to lift the trophy.[19]

In September 2018, Namaso scored twice for the England U19 team against the Netherlands.[20]

On 28 May 2019, Namaso was called up to the England U20 for the 2019 Toulon Tournament.[21] He scored his first goal for the U20 age group on his ninth appearance; a 3–0 win over Iceland U21s at Wycombe on 19 November 2019.[22]

Personal life

His brother, Ben Loader, is a professional rugby player with the Stormers.[23]

Ahead of the 2022/23 season, he stated to the Portuguese press that his preference was to be professionally addressed as Danny Namaso rather than Danny Loader.[24]

Career statistics

As of match played 23 January 2025[25]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Reading U23 2016–17[26] — — — — 2[c] 0 2 0
Reading 2017–18[5] Championship 0 0 0 0 1 0 — — 1 0
2018–19[27] Championship 21 1 1 0 0 0 — — 22 1
2019–20[28] Championship 7 0 3 1 2 0 — — 12 1
Total 28 1 4 1 3 0 — — 35 2
Porto B 2020–21 Liga Portugal 2 32 8 — — — — 32 8
2021–22 Liga Portugal 2 31 14 — — — — 31 14
Total 63 22 — — — — 63 22
Porto 2021–22 Primeira Liga 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 2 1
2022–23 Primeira Liga 22 3 5 1 5 3 3[d] 0 1[e] 0 36 7
2023–24 Primeira Liga 16 1 5 1 1 0 3[d] 0 1[e] 0 26 2
2024–25 Primeira Liga 14 2 2 0 1 0 5[f] 1 1[e] 0 23 3
Total 53 7 13 2 8 3 11 1 3 0 87 13
Career total 144 30 16 3 11 3 11 1 5 0 187 37
  1. ^ Includes FA Cup, Taça de Portugal
  2. ^ Includes EFL Cup, Taça da Liga
  3. ^ Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
  4. ^ a b Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  5. ^ a b c Appearance in Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
  6. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League

Honours

Porto[25]

England U17

References

  1. ^ "EFL Released and Retained List 2016–17" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Danny Namaso". 11v11. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d "Danny Loader profile". Reading F.C. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  4. ^ a b Low, Jonathan (22 August 2017). "Who is Danny Loader? A quick guide to Reading FC's new starlet". Get Reading. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Games played by Danny Namaso in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Loader agrees professional terms as a Royal". Reading F.C. 8 July 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Danny | "It's a huge step, we're all happy"".
  8. ^ "Middlesbrough win maintains play-off bid". BBC Sport.
  9. ^ Edwards, Joe (8 August 2019). "Wolves sign Meritan Shabani but Danny Loader deal falls through". www.expressandstar.com.
  10. ^ "Reading edge past Wycombe on penalties". BBC Sport.
  11. ^ "DANNY LOADER É REFORÇO DO FC PORTO B". fcporto.pt (in Portuguese). FC Porto. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  12. ^ "FC Porto: Danny Loader was the novelty on the eve of Boavista". Mais Futebol. 29 October 2021.
  13. ^ Low, Jonathan (1 November 2021). "Danny Loader joins Omar Richards in becoming latest Reading FC academy star to shine in Europe". Berkshire Live.
  14. ^ "Danny, um Loader a fazer loading para ser a surpresa do FC Porto na nova temporada". observador.pt (in Portuguese). Observador. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Danny Namaso renova até 2028" [Danny Namaso renews until 2028] (in Portuguese). FC Porto. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  16. ^ "World Cup squad named". The Football Association. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  17. ^ "England stay perfect in Kolkata". FIFA. 14 October 2017. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  18. ^ "Match Report". FIFA. 21 October 2017. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  19. ^ a b "England come from behind to outclass Spain and win FIFA U17 World Cup". The Football Association. 28 October 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  20. ^ "England U19s and U18s both enjoyed victories against the Netherlands on Wednesday". The Football Association. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  21. ^ "Loader gets Three Lions call for Toulon Tournament". readingfc.co.uk/. Reading F.C. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  22. ^ "THE YOUNG LIONS PUT ON EXPLOSIVE SECOND-HALF SHOW TO BEAT ICELAND IN WYCOMBE". TheFA.com/. The Football Association. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  23. ^ Bennetts, Julian (14 February 2018). "Meet Ben and Danny Loader - Britain's most talented sporting brothers". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  24. ^ "Danny Loader passa a Namaso" [Danny Loader switches to Namaso] (in Portuguese). Record. 24 July 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  25. ^ a b Danny Namaso at Soccerway
  26. ^ "Games played by Danny Namaso in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  27. ^ "Games played by Danny Namaso in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  28. ^ "Danny Loader | Football Stats | FC Porto | Season 2019/2020 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com.
  29. ^ Shamoon Hafez (17 January 2019). "England's U17 World Cup winners - where are they now?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  30. ^ "Spain-England | Under-17".