Samuel "Kwaku" Owusu, a 24-year-old central defender who has been a mainstay of the NYCFC II backline since the Division III team was launched in 2022, is moving to Union Omaha of USL League One. According to a statement issued by Union Omaha on March 28, Owusu will join the club "pending league and federation approval."
New York City FC have yet to make an official statement regarding the defender.
Owusu once represented the future of New York City. The Ghanaian-born New Yorker joined the NYCFC Academy in 2016 when he was just 15. In January 2022, the club signed Owusu to a Homegrown contract. He made his Major League Soccer debut later that same year, playing 11 minutes in a 3-0 loss to New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. It was the only time Owusu appeared with the First Team.
This was despite the club's need for central defenders. Alex Callens departed after the end of the 2022 season, and Maxime Chanot left late in 2023. The front office struggled to add depth to the position, but rather than bring Owusu into the First Team they relied on right-back Tayvon Gray, midfielder James Sands, and midfielder Justin Haak to fill in for injured players.
Owusu fell further down the depth chart with the signings earlier this year of two highly-regarded college prospects, Prince Amponsah and Max Murray. While 21-year-old Amponsah made the matchday lineup for two of the six games New York City played so far this season (he was an unused substitute in both), Owusu was last named to the First Team squad in July 2023.
Even more telling, Owusu hasn't made the lineup card for NYCFC II at all this season. Amponsah and Murray are now the regular starters for the MLS NEXT Pro squad, while Owusu hasn't even named on the bench.
Owusu was the eighth Homegrown signed by New York City (Amponsah is the 16th) and was added along with defender Nico Benalcazar and Jonathan ‘JJ’ Jiménez on January 19, 2022. None of the three are with the club:
Benalcazar left at the end of the 2023 season to join FC Cincinnati 2 in MLS Next Pro and now is with Orange County SC in the USL Championship, while Jiménez joined Hartford Athletic, also in USL C, earlier this year.
