Reports came flying in on Friday linking Sunderland to the reported £10 million signing of twenty-year-old DR Congo youth international Jules Ahoka from Royal Antwerp – they were even blessed with a “Here We Go” by everyone’s favourite transfer spoiler, Fabrizio Romano.
So who is he, what would he offer Sunderland and why are we signing him? Let’s take a quick dive into the details…
In Profile: Jules Ahoka
Born in Kinshasa, DR Congo, Ahoka is a twenty-year-old defensive midfielder currently playing for Belgian Pro League
outfit Royal Antwerp.
Having honed his craft through grassroots academies in Kinshasa, including Magik Stars de Normands and AS Normands Stars, he made the leap to European football when Royal Antwerp secured his signature on a long-term contract in September 2025.
Primarily deployed in a defensive midfield role – a number six – Ahoka possesses positional flexibility that allows him to step up into central midfield or drop into the heart of defence as a centre-back – a position in which he made his debut.
Ahoka is a current DR Congo U23 international, and his rapid adaptation to European football via Antwerp’s developmental side (Young Reds) and early first-team cameos has quickly put him on the radar of the Sunderland recruitment team.
The Numbers Game
To caveat, due to the limited games and minutes Ahoka has played for Royal Antwerp, the following statistical analysis is at risk of being heavily skewed due to the lack of available data.
However, the early signs point to Ahoka possessing the attributes to be an elite defensive player, with high defensive and physical baselines.
Data aggregated across analytics platforms indicates that Ahoka excels at ground duels, physical recovery runs and line-breaking passes from deep. When compared to midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues, his high ball-recovery volume per ninety minutes places him comfortably in the upper percentiles of midfielders.
Across his four Jupiler Pro League appearances from the last two seasons, Ahoka has registered 7.25 ground duels won per ninety, three aerial duels won per ninety and 9.25 defensive contributions per ninety, to highlight his defensive capabilities.
Ahoka also shows excellent progressive statistics, proving he can play the ball forward into more creative players and play in a team that wants to play and keep possession. He averages an 87.1% successful pass rate, completing 30.25 successful passes per ninety.
These early indicators place him above any Sunderland player for ground duels won and pass completion rate from last season. During his recent appearances in the 2026/27 Belgian Pro League season, Ahoka has registered an outstanding 8.35 FotMob match rating over 180 minutes, picking up one assist in the process.
The Verdict
Signing Ahoka would fit Sunderland’s recent recruitment ethos perfectly: targeting a high-ceiling, multi-functional young talent from a secondary European league before their market value explodes.
Ahoka would arrive on the back of successful performances in the end-of-season play-off games for Antwerp last season and winning the ‘Breakthrough Player’ award at the Tournoi Maurice Revello.
Reports in Belgium liken him to Amadou Onana in terms of his style of play and physicality, with his statistics also pointing to similar traits shown by N’Golo Kanté and Noah Sadiki.
Florent Ghisolfi may have pulled off a bit of a coup if Ahoka continues his trajectory and performances, and Sunderland could have a star on their hands. Mentorship from the likes of Granit Xhaka could teach Ahoka how to channel his physical aggression into positional dominance, thus transforming him from a ball-winner into a complete deep-lying playmaker.
Only time will tell what kind of player arrives, but I, for one, am excited to see Ahoka join the club and deliver on what looks to be outstanding potential.
