Medy Elito

Medy Ekofo Elito (born 20 March 1990) is a footballer who plays as a midfielder, most recently for Barnet. Elito is also a rapper who performs under the name Don EE.

Medy Elito

Personal information
Full name	Medy Ekofo Elito[1]
Date of birth	(1990-03-20) 20 March 1990[1]
Place of birth	Kinshasa, Zaire
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Playing position(s)	Central midfielder, winger
Youth career
0000–2007	Colchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2011	Colchester United	19	(1)
2010	→ Cheltenham Town (loan)	12	(3)
2010–2011	→ Dagenham & Redbridge (loan)	10	(2)
2011	→ Cheltenham Town (loan)	2	(0)
2011–2014	Dagenham & Redbridge	115	(17)
2014–2015	VVV-Venlo	28	(0)
2015–2016	Newport County	38	(1)
2016–2018	Cambridge United	55	(9)
2018–2020	Barnet	40	(2)
National team^‡
2006–2007	England U17	2	(0)
2008	England U18	1	(0)
2008	England U19	3	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:39, 19 March 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 02:39, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Club career

As a teenager, Elito played in the Colchester United Academy. He signed a professional contract with the U's in May 2007, having already played for the U's at youth and reserve team level.[2] He was given the number 30 shirt for the 2007–08 season and made his Colchester debut as a substitute in a 4–1 defeat away at Plymouth Argyle on 4 March 2008. On 29 March 2008, he scored his first professional goal, against West Bromwich Albion in the Championship. At the time it gave Colchester a 2–0 lead, although following a half-time substitution, Elito was helpless as they went on to lose 4–3,[3] and eventually lose their Championship status. On 4 September 2009, he signed a new two-year contract with Colchester United.

Elito signed a monthlong loan at Cheltenham Town on 5 March 2010,[4] and made he debut against Chesterfield a day later. After increasing that loan to the end of the season, Elito scored goals against Darlington, Port Vale as well as a well-timed strike from the edge of the box against Burton Albion, in the 6–5 win.

In November 2010, Elito joined Dagenham & Redbridge on loan until 3 January 2011.[5] He made his debut for Dagenham and scored on 13 November in a 3–1 away win against Yeovil Town.[6]

On 25 February 2011, Elito signed on loan to Cheltenham until the end of the season.[7]

On 28 April, Colchester announced that he would be one of three players who would be released at the end of the season.[8]

On 28 June 2011, Elito signed for League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge on a two-year deal. On 7 January 2013, Elto signed a two-year contract extension.[9] In the summer of 2014, Elito was released from his contract at Dagenham & Redbridge at his own request and was transferred to Dutch side VVV-Venlo in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football.[10]

On 25 June 2015 Elito signed for League Two club Newport County. He made his debut for Newport on 8 August 2015 versus Cambridge United, missing a penalty in the 72nd minute in a 3–0 defeat. Elito scored his first goal for Newport on 19 April 2016 against Oxford United.[11] He was offered a new contract by Newport at the end of the 2015–16 season but the offer was withdrawn and he was released after he failed to accept the contract by the deadline of 10 June 2016.[12]

Elito signed for Cambridge United on 13 June 2016.[13] He scored his first goal for Cambridge in a 2–1 EFL Cup loss against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 23 August 2016.[14] He was released at the end of the 2018 season.[15] Elito joined Barnet on a two-year deal on 27 July 2018.[16] He left the club at the end of the 2019-20 season, having scored twice in 55 games.[17]

International career

In the summer of 2007, he was selected to represent England at the FIFA U17 World Cup in Korea, having previously represented them in the Algarve Tournament, a round-robin tournament held in Portugal.[18] He made a substitute appearance in England's 5–0 win against New Zealand, winning praise from the U17's Head Coach, John Peacock, and also made an appearance in the tournament in the quarter final game with Germany.[19][20] He received further praise, this time from ex-Us player Perry Groves when he was selected for the England U18 side to face Ghana in November 2007 at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium,[21] a match in which he came on as a half time substitute for Nathan Porritt, the final result being a 2–0 England win.[22]

Career statistics

As of 25 July 2020.

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Colchester United	2007–08[23]	Championship	11	1	0	0	0	0	—		11	1
	2008–09[24]	League One	5	0	1	0	1	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	8	0
	2009–10[25]		3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	2010–11[26]		0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	Total		19	1	2	0	2	0	1	0	24	1
Cheltenham Town (loan)	2009–10[25]	League Two	12	3	—		—		—		12	3
Dagenham & Redbridge (loan)	2010–11[26]	League One	10	2	—		—		—		10	2
Cheltenham Town (loan)	2010–11[26]	League Two	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
Dagenham & Redbridge	2011–12[27]	League Two	24	4	2	0	1	0	0	0	27	4
	2012–13[28]		46	6	1	0	1	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	49	6
	2013–14[29]		45	7	1	0	1	0	3[lower-alpha 1]	1	50	8
	Total		115	17	4	0	3	0	4	1	126	18
VVV-Venlo	2014–15[30]	Eerste Divisie	28	0	3	0	—		0	0	31	0
Newport County	2015–16[31]	League Two	38	1	4	0	1	0	0	0	43	1
Cambridge United	2016–17[32]	League Two	23	5	2	1	2	1	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	29	7
	2017–18[33]		32	4	1	0	1	0	3[lower-alpha 1]	0	37	4
	Total		55	9	3	1	3	1	5	0	66	11
Barnet	2018–19	National League	25	2	4	0	0	0	5[lower-alpha 2]	0	34	2
	2019–20		15	0	1	0	0	0	5[lower-alpha 3]	0	21	0
	Total		40	2	5	0	0	0	10	0	55	2
Career totals			319	35	21	1	9	1	20	1	369	38

1. Appearances in Football League Trophy
2. Appearances in FA Trophy
3. Four appearances in FA Trophy, one appearance in National League playoffs

Music career

Performing as Don EE, Elito first emerged on the music scene in 2015 when he featured on the Dr Vades track "Balenciaga" alongside Kojo Funds and Yxng Bane. He released his first single, "You Alright Yeah?", in 2017. The song gained traction after being shared by Beyoncé on Instagram.[34] He has also released tracks featuring Davido and Ms Banks, and performed at Wireless Festival and Wembley Arena.[35]

References

1. Hugman, Barry J. (ed) (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
2. "Elito handed Colchester contract". BBC Sport. 31 May 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
3. "West Brom 4–3 Colchester". BBC Sport. 29 March 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
4. http://www.cu-fc.com/page/News/0,,10424~1985413,00.html Archived 9 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Medy Elito joins Dagenham & Redbridge in loan switch". BBC Sport. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
6. "Yeovil 1 – 3 Dag & Red". BBC Sport. 13 November 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
7. "Cheltenham sign Medy Elito and Jake Thomson on loan". BBC Sport. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
8. "Colchester United release Elito, Corcoran and Knudsen". BBC Sport. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
9. "Saunders and Elito sign new deals at Daggers". Hackney Gazette. 7 January 2013. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
10. "Winger Elito set to go Dutch". Sky Sports. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
11. "Newport County 1 Oxford United 1". BBC Sport. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
12. Newport players released
13. "Medy Elito: Cambridge United sign Newport County winger". BBC Sport. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
14. "Wolves 2–1 Cambridge". BBC Sport. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
15. "Cambridge United: David Forde to stay while Barry Corr in contract talks". BBC Sport. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
16. Transfer | Medy Elito signs for Barnet FC
17. Club update
18. "Medy Gets England Nod". Colchester United. 3 August 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
19. Staves, Russell (1 September 2007). "Club Med". The FA. Archived from the original on 29 October 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
20. FA Website retrieved 1 March 2008 Archived 14 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
21. FA website retrieved 1 March 2008 Archived 16 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
22. Essex County Standard article retrieved 1 March 2008
23. "Games played by Medy Elito in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
24. "Games played by Medy Elito in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
25. "Games played by Medy Elito in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
26. "Games played by Medy Elito in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
27. "Dag & Red 2011/2012 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
28. "Dag & Red 2012/2013 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
29. "Dag & Red 2013/2014 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
30. "M. Elito – Soccerway". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
31. "Newport 2015/2016 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
32. "Cambridge 2016/2017 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
33. "Cambridge 2017/2018 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
34. You Alright Yh? Beyonce reveals love for UK grime newcomer Don-E with Instagram post
35. From 4-3-3 to 808s: When Football and Rap Music Collide

External links

• Medy Elito at Soccerbase
• Medy Elito player profile at cu-fc.com