Aboubacar Keita

Aboubacar Kobele Keita (born April 6, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender.

Keita was born in New York City but grew up in Ohio, attending Westerville North High School and playing for the Crew SC Academy.

After just one year in college at Virginia, he signed with Columbus Crew as the 12th Homegrown Player in club history.

[5] In January 2018, Keita took part in his first international camp, training with an assembled United States U19 national team in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.

[14] In a bid to get acclimated to the professional game, Keita was sent on loan to USL League One club Richmond Kickers on March 6, 2019.

[15] Although he began the season back in Columbus, recuperating from an injury suffered while on international duty,[16] Keita made his professional debut on April 27.

[22] It was announced on March 10 that Keita had undergone successful ACL surgery on his right knee, which put him out the entirety of the 2022 MLS season.

In the team's final camp ahead of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, he came off the bench against France on March 22 and provided Christian Cappis with a match-tying assist in second-half stoppage time;[27] Keita also started three days later against Japan.

Keita was the fifth Homegrown Player in Crew SC history to play for the U20s, following Wil Trapp , Chad Barson , Matt Wiet , and Ben Swanson .