Eastleigh sign Dutch-Ghanaian forward Manny Duku for National League campaign

Manny Duku, the Dutch-Ghanaian centre-forward, has joined Eastleigh after leaving Rochdale earlier in the summer.

The 33-year-old Amsterdam-born striker completed the move on 26 August and becomes part of Eastleigh’s squad in the National League. Duku was without a club after departing Rochdale on 1 July, having joined the club from Tamworth in January.

Duku brings extensive experience of English non-league and professional football to Eastleigh. He has made 108 National League appearances, scoring 23 goals and providing four assists, while also recording 40 Championship appearances and five goals.

His career has included spells with Rochdale, Tamworth, Solihull Moors, Hednesford, Wealdstone, Maidstone, Manchester 62 and York City. He joined Rochdale midway through the 2025-26 season after beginning that campaign with Tamworth, where he had arrived from Solihull Moors in July 2025.

The forward began his senior career in the Netherlands before moving into English football. His early clubs included FC Breukelen, Eemdijk, Chesham, Hemel, Kings Langley, Banbury and Hayes & Yeading. He later played for Cheltenham, Torquay, Halifax Town, Barnet, Raith Rovers, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Havant & Waterlooville.

Duku has also played in the Gibraltar Football League, where he scored six goals in six appearances, and has found the net seven times in eight League Cup matches. Across his recorded National League South appearances, he has scored six goals in 23 games.

A 1.88m right-footed striker, Duku provides Eastleigh with a recognised central attacking option as the club competes in the National League. His arrival adds another chapter to a playing career that has taken him between clubs in England, the Netherlands, Scotland and Gibraltar.

Duku’s latest move follows a long sequence of transfers completed without a fee, including his switches to Tamworth, Rochdale and several of his previous clubs. The Eastleigh move was finalised after his period without a club and was registered on 26 August 2026.

Eastleigh have now secured Manny Duku’s arrival as their new centre-forward for the 2026-27 National League season.