“When Your Opportunity Arises, You Have to Take It”: Keinan Davis Relishing Life at Udinese
Udinese Calcio will be looking to do the double over Serie A leaders Inter Milan for the first time in 13 years, having beaten them 2-1 on August 31 (snapping a six-match losing streak to the Nerazzurri). The odds aren’t exactly in their favor, but if they are to come away with the victory at the Stadio Friuli, they’ll need Keinan Vincent Joseph Davis to be at his scintillating best on Saturday.
“Inter are one of the best teams in Europe. We played them at the beginning of the season, and got a good result by winning. But it was a difficult match, and we’ve seen after that just how well they’ve done,” stated Davis in an exclusive R.Org interview. “Obviously, they’re at the top of the table, so we just know collectively that it’s just going to be a tough game. But we’ll be at home, and we’ll have the support of the fans, so we just have to go out there and give our best.”
Developing in England
Born on February 13, 1998, Davis grew up in Stevenage, England, and attended The Nobel School before deciding to put all of his eggs into one basket and prioritize his footballing objectives over his academic studies. He dreamed of representing his hometown side Stevenage, but his ambitions were quashed when his manager, Darren Sarll, released him from the squad in 2015. Instead, he was forced to drop down a level and ply his trade under Biggleswade Town under-18 coach Dave Northfield, but he didn’t stick around for long at the Waders. After impressing in a friendly match against their reserves, Davis underwent a four-week trial at Aston Villa, where he did well enough to earn an 18-month professional contract in December 2015. At 17 years of age, Davis was going to be leaving home for the first time and polishing his skills at the West Midlands’ most prestigious football club.
“I couldn’t really believe it. To go from such a small team in Biggleswade to one of the biggest teams in England, it was just crazy at the time. For my entire family, for all my friends, for all the people who knew me from school, they must have been gobsmacked that I made such a big leap. When I look back, I just loved my time at Villa so much because of how green I was to the football world. My eyes were so wide, and I just couldn’t believe I was there, seeing the first-team players in Aston Villa, and all the academy players that I watched on YouTube. To be playing with them was just surreal, but I enjoyed it a lot. From 17 to 21, those were some of the best years of my life.”
Davis initially cut his teeth in the youth ranks, watching as Villa suffered relegation in 2015/16 after 28 consecutive seasons in the English top-flight, before eventually making his professional debut on January 8, 2017, in a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup. Having made just seven appearances across his first season, Davis would become an integral figure under Steve Bruce in 2017/18, scoring three goals and tallying an assist in 30 appearances, but he was unable to lead them back to the promised land as the Villans finished fourth and lost to Fulham in the promotion playoffs final. But a dream deferred was not a dream denied for Villa, who would go on to finish fifth and defeat Derby County in the playoff final.
They’ve remained in the Premier League ever since, finishing in the top seven European positions in each of the last three seasons and returning to the UEFA Champions League after four decades. And today, they find themselves in the midst of a title race, sitting level on 43 points with Manchester City, six points behind league leaders Arsenal, and eight points above fourth-placed Liverpool.
Having played just seven times the previous season, Davis was able to take things up a notch in 2019/20, scoring a goal and providing one assist in 23 appearances as Villa narrowly staved off the threat of relegation. He would follow that up by bagging a pair of goals and registering two assists in 18 appearances in 2020/21, bagging his first, and so far, only, Premier League goal on April 25, 2021 and equalizing in injury time against West Bromwich Albion.
However, after missing the start of the 2021/22 season with a knee injury and playing just once, Davis came to realize that he wasn’t going to dislodge more experienced strikers like Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings from the pecking order – he needed to leave Villa Park. It’s why, on January 1, 2022, Davis joined EFL Championship side Nottingham Forest on loan, where he racked up five goals and three assists in 22 appearances and helped them return to the Premier League after a 24-year drought. He was then sent out on loan to Championship side Watford, where he scored seven goals and two assists in 34 appearances, but was ultimately unable to elevate the Hornets from midtable malaise to a genuine promotion fight.
“I’ve played the most in the EFL Championship (88 appearances vs. 50 in Serie A and 34 in the Premier League). The Championship is like a basketball game, it’s very end-to-end, high-intensity and chaotic, because you’ll have a game on a Saturday and a Tuesday, or Saturday and Wednesday. It’s similar in the Premier League, but of course, it’s not as high-quality. In the Premier League, the mental game comes into it, and your focus has to be A1 all the time, you have to be just mentally switched on, because if you don’t, you’ll get punished by nearly any team in the league.
Serie A takes the quality from the Championship, and the quality from the Premier League, where you’ll get punished if you make a mistake, but it’s a lot slower, and much more tactical and methodical with the structures and the formations of the different teams…it’s kind of like a blend.”
New Beginnings at Udinese
Desperate for a fresh start, Davis decided to leave England and start a new chapter in Italy after joining Udinese on September 1, 2023, and penning a four-year contract (Udinese have the option to renew it for an additional year). However, after tearing his left calf muscle in training, Davis was forced to wait until January 7, 2024, before making his debut against Lazio. He returned to the side nearly two months later, playing against Genoa and Lazio, only to miss the following month with muscular injuries.
Davis would return for Udinese’s last five matches, coming off the bench at halftime during their season finale at Frosinone. At the time, Frosinone, Udinese, and Empoli were fighting for their lives in Serie A, with the latter two needing a win to stay afloat. Whilst Empoli would end up beating Roma via Mbaye Niang’s extra-time winner, Udinese found themselves in danger of going down to Serie B for the first time since 1994/95. That is, until the 76th minute, when Lorenzo Lucca chested down a ball for Davis to latch onto and smash into the back of the net.
After helping the Zebrette stave off relegation at the 11th hour, Davis would go on to score three goals and provide an assist in 25 appearances as they finished 12th in the Serie A table under new manager Kosta Runjaić. With Lucca taking his talents to defending champions Napoli, Davis has been tasked with stepping up and staking his claim as Udinese’s starting center forward. He’s done just that, beating out competition from summer arrival Adam Buksa and cementing his status as one of the first names on Runjaić’s team sheet. After blanking in their first two matches vs. Carrarese and Hellas Verona, Davis bagged a goal and an assist in Udinese’s shock win vs. Inter in August before scoring against Sassuolo and Lecce in September and October. However, it’s fair to say that only in the past few weeks has Davis been able to hit his stride and deliver the best form of his entire career.
“The number one thing is just playing, because obviously the first appearances that I was making for Udinese were off the bench, where I’d come on for 10, 15, 20 minutes. It was hard to find my rhythm and score goals because I didn’t have much time.
I wasn’t the #1 striker, and I was just learning and biding my time behind Lorenzo Lucca and Florian Thauvin. When your opportunity arises, you just have to take it. To be given the opportunity now by the mister to play from the beginning and start each game as the #9 of the team, it’s of course a lot of pressure, but with that pressure, you can take the confidence that you’re being given, even when you don’t score. Being given the opportunity to start builds confidence; I feel like I’m in very good shape at the moment, and I hope it continues.”
After closing out November with a goal from the penalty spot in their 2-0 win at Parma, Davis would then assist Jurgen Ekkelenkamp’s winning goal against Napoli before ending 2025 with a last-second equalizer against Lazio. He was kept under wraps in the following match at Como but returned with a vengeance by assisting Ekkelenkamp’s decisive second goal in a 2-1 win at Torino, before bagging a penalty in their 2-2 draw vs. Pisa. Davis leads Udinese’s squad for goals in Serie A (6), Expected Goals (6.7), assists (3), and scoring frequency (a goal every 212 minutes), and if he scores against Inter, he will equal his best-ever scoring season (2022/23).
“As a striker, when you’re not scoring, it’s very difficult. That’s what you’re being paid to do: to score. So when you’re not scoring, you just have to keep turning up and getting in the right positions. If you’re always in the right space, or you’re always in the right time, or you’re always focused, you might not be scoring, but if you’re getting the chances to score, eventually you’re going to score.
Just keep turning up, and don’t hide and shy away from an opportunity to do better. If you have an opportunity, and your confidence is low, and then you miss, at least you had the opportunity, you know? Next time, you know you have to score. It’s just about being present, and always being available.”