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	47	(6)
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 23:19, 28 October 2024 (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

Loader 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] Loader 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 Loader 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. Loader 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]

Loader 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

Loader 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, Loader 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, Loader scored twice for the England U19 team against the Netherlands. ^[20]

On 28 May 2019, Loader 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 28 October 2024 ^[25]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [lower-alpha 1]		League cup [lower-alpha 2]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Reading U23	2016–17 [26]	—			—		—		—		2 [lower-alpha 3]	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 [lower-alpha 4]	0	1 [lower-alpha 5]	0	36	7
	2023–24	Primeira Liga	16	1	5	1	1	0	3 [lower-alpha 4]	0	1 [lower-alpha 5]	0	26	2
	2024–25	Primeira Liga	8	1	1	0	0	0	2 [lower-alpha 4]	0	1 [lower-alpha 5]	0	12	1
	Total		47	6	12	2	7	3	8	0	3	0	76	11
Career total			138	29	15	3	10	3	8	0	5	0	176	35

1. Includes FA Cup, Taça de Portugal
2. Includes EFL Cup, Taça da Liga
3. Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
4. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
5. Appearance in Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

Honours

Porto ^[25]

• Primeira Liga: 2021–22
• Taça de Portugal: 2022–23, 2023–24
• Taça da Liga: 2022–23
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2022, 2024

England U17

• FIFA U-17 World Cup: 2017 ^{[19] [29]}
• UEFA European Under-17 Championship runner-up: 2017 ^[30]

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. "Danny Loader profile". Reading F.C. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
4. 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. "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. "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. 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".

External links

• Profile at the FC Porto website
• Danny Namaso at Soccerbase
• England profile at The Football Association