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We sit down with Udinese sharpshooter Keinan Davis to discuss his career journey and how he’s found a home in Italy.
At the beginning of the month, Udinese was in the midst of a solid run of form, winning back-to-back games against Hellas Verona and AS Roma. Striker Keinan Davis was a big part of both wins, scoring in the former and putting together a solid performance against the league’s best defense in the latter. However, Davis would leave the Roma match with an injury, and the Zebrette have lost their last three matches, dropping to 11th in the Serie A table.
Born on February 13, 1998, Davis grew up in Stevenage, England, and attended The Nobel School before deciding to quit his studies and focus on becoming a professional footballer. He received a cold dose of reality after his Stevenage manager Darren Sarll released him from the squad, forcing Davis to move to the U-18 side of non-league outfit Biggleswade Town.
Shortly after, he impressed in a friendly match against Aston Villa’s reserves and earned himself a month-long trial before penning an 18-month professional contract in December 2015. After departing his hometown for the West Midlands, Davis plied his trade with the reserves and watched from afar as Villa suffered relegation after 28 straight seasons in the top flight, before making his professional debut on January 8, 2017 in a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup.
The following season would see Davis become a crucial figure in attack under Steve Bruce, helping Villa reach the promotion playoff final only to lose to Fulham. Nevertheless, they refused to rest on their laurels and returned to the most lucrative match in world football the next season, where they defeated Derby County in the final. Davis was able to rack up six goals and four assists in 86 appearances in both the Championship and the Premier League before falling out of favor under Steven Gerrard and departing for Nottingham Forest in January 2022.
“I got injured in the beginning of that season, so I knew that I wasn’t going to play anyways, but my injury made it so that I definitely wasn’t going to play as I wasn’t available at all,” said Davis in an exclusive Urban Pitch interview.
“I was eager to get out and play, and then Nottingham Forest came, the deal happened and I went there, and it was the best decision that I ever made. It wasn’t really a decision, but it was the best option, or the best outcome it could have been. That was one of the best times as well, I really enjoyed my time at the City Ground a lot and being around some really, really good fans.”
Davis registered five goals and three assists in 22 appearances to lead Forest back to the Premier League after a 24-year drought, before being sent out on loan to Championship side Watford, where he scored seven goals and two assists in 34 appearances. He then made the move to Serie A outfit Udinese on September 1, 2023, signing a four-year contract (Udinese have the option to renew it for an additional year), but he was forced to wait four months before making his debut after tearing his left calf muscle in training.
He was gradually eased into the side, playing eight times as Udinese headed into the final matchday with their hearts in their mouths. Frosinone, Udinese, and Empoli were all fighting to stay up, with the former two sides facing off in the season finale. Just when Frosinone looked set to stave off the drop at Udinese’s expense, Davis stepped up and smashed in the game’s sole goal to carry the Zebrette across the finish line and avoid a first relegation since 1993-94.
Having scored three goals and an assist in 25 appearances under new manager Kosta Runjaić in 2024-25, Davis has stepped up and filled Lorenzo Lucca’s void as Udinese’s attacking talisman following the latter’s move to Napoli. After scoring against Inter, Sassuolo, Lecce and Parma in the opening months of the season, Davis took things up a notch in the holiday period by assisting the sole goal of the match against Napoli before bagging a 95th-minute equalizer against Lazio, followed by an assist at Torino and a penalty goal against Pisa.
Now nursing an adductor injury, Davis is eager to return to the pitch and get Udinese back on track. In fact, the former England U21 international finds himself locked in two races against time: in addition to fighting off his injury, he’s also vying to secure his Jamaican passport ahead of the Reggae Boyz’ most consequential match in a quarter-century.
Jamaica will be facing off against New Caledonia, and if they win, they will face DR Congo for a chance to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Having been selected in the preliminary 60-man squad, Davis could very well be set to make his Jamaica debut in next month’s qualifiers, provided that he returns in time.
We caught up with Davis for a Q&A session, discussing his rise from the lower ranks to the top flights, his move to Udinese, and how he’s taken a liking to Italy.
Urban Pitch: What was it like having to earn your stripes in lower-ranking clubs like Stevenage and Biggleswade before finally getting your chance in the Premier League and Serie A?
In the beginning, I was at Stevenage, which is in League One now, but back then, they were in League Two. I was there from when I was 12 until 16. It was good at the time, but then I got released, which was tough because I of course wanted to play for Stevenage’s first team and just become a professional.
That was hard, and then after that, I went to Biggleswade, which is obviously a lot of steps lower down on the pyramid, from 16 to 17 years of age. But that’s when I developed a lot and started growing a lot and becoming more physical, which was very good. That was like a platform to show teams in England like Aston Villa what I could do, and that’s when I joined Aston Villa. It was a very good time.
Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images
You must have had quite a few offers from English teams in the summer of 2023. What made you decide to join Udinese?
Obviously, they have a good relationship with Watford, they had seen me play at Watford, but they came quite late into the window. I had a lot of options in England, I went and met with a lot of Championship clubs and spoke with them, and when I was making my decision, I went back to Biggleswade and spoke to my former manager Dave Northfield and asked him for advice.
When I told him that Udinese were in contact and wanted me to come, he said, “You’ve played in the Championship before, you’ve gotten promoted twice before with Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. It would be a good idea to have a change and go and play against teams like Inter, Milan and Roma, play at massive stadiums like the San Siro. That would be good for your career.”
So then I thought about it and said, “Yeah, why not?” It would be good to play against some of the biggest teams in the world… instead of staying in the Championship, let’s go and play in the second-best league in the world, for me, and push yourself out your comfort zone, and see how it goes. So, yeah, that was the decision behind that.
You’ve played against some of the best players in European football, but who is the toughest opponent that you’ve faced in your entire career?
This is a difficult question. I would say N’Golo Kanté, who was very good when I played Chelsea. Kanté and Olivier Giroud, who also played very well in that same game.
I’d say those two, definitely, as well as Matías Soulé, who I’ve faced four times as a Frosinone and now a Roma player. I’d probably say those three are the ones that I’ve played against and I’ve thought, “Yeah, these guys are top, top level.”
What’s your favorite thing about being a Udinese player?
I’ll probably say my teammates, to be fair…I really enjoy my teammates. I come into training and have a lot of fun, I laugh a lot, and all the teammates are very good with me. Going on away trips and stuff like that, it’s just very enjoyable. Obviously, you can have some dressing rooms which I’ve been in before, which I haven’t really enjoyed going into, or I haven’t been the most comfortable, but here I feel very comfortable with everyone in the team and the coaching staff, so I’ll probably say that’s the best part.
What has it been like coming to grips with a new country while also raising a young daughter?
It’s been difficult in terms of she’s got a lot of energy at the moment. In the beginning, when we first got here, she wasn’t even 1 years old yet, and we thought that was difficult, but comparing that time to now is just two different worlds. Now, obviously, she can speak, and she can say what she wants, it’s just a lot more demanding, you know? But it’s obviously been enjoyable, because she’s got her own personality, and it’s been very fun. Of course, when she gets older, she can have that experience of me telling her where we used to live in Italy and all these type of things, so it’s very good.
Lastly, after finishing 15th and 12th in your first two seasons, your team is looking to finish in the top half of the standings this year. Just how far do you think Udinese can go?
We were nearly relegated after I got here with just 37 points, and then in 2024-25, we got 44 points, which was obviously a major progression from the year before. Each step, each year I’ve been here, we’ve progressed, and I think this time last season, we had a similar point tally. Hopefully we end the league with more than 44 points, which is obviously our goal, and then each year would have been a step up each time. That’s all you can ask for, really, is to progress, but this season, I think we’ve done well. Of course, we’ve lost some games that we shouldn’t, but we’ve also won some games that people didn’t expect us to, like against Inter and Napoli, so I think it’s been quite balanced. We just have to take that step to actually look up the table from ninth and upwards and try to compete with the teams that are there, which is our goal this year.