INDIANAPOLIS – Indy Eleven announced on Wednesday the club had signed forward Augustine Williams ahead of the 2024 USL Championship season. The transaction is pending league and federation approval.

Williams joins the Boys in Blue having spent the past two seasons with fellow USL Championship club the Charleston Battery, where he recorded 31 goals and six assists across 67 appearances in the regular season and playoffs. This past campaign, the 26-year-old played a key role in the Battery claiming the Eastern Conference title with 15 goals and three assists in 35 appearances.

A native of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Williams competed for Nomads SC in San Diego in the youth ranks before turning pro as an 18-year-old in the USL Championship with the Portland Timbers 2 in 2016. After joining the LA Galaxy II in 2019, he was voted to the Championship’s All-League Team for the first time in 2020 after recording 13 goals in the abbreviated campaign.

Williams was signed by the Galaxy to an MLS contract in 2021, after which he also competed on loan with San Diego Loyal SC. Over his career he has recorded 68 goals in 201 appearances across the Championship’s regular season and playoffs, also earning selection to the Championship’s All-League Team in 2022 in his first season with the Battery.

In addition to his club career, Williams has made seven appearances for Sierra Leone at the senior international. In January, 2022 he was part of the country’s squad that competed at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Analysis

Augustine Williams adds another prong to an attack that was already set to feature veteran Sebastian Guenzatti and the re-signed Douglas Martinez Jr., but his consistency over the past four seasons could see the newcomer take center stage for his new club.

Williams has 50 goals across the regular season and playoffs since the start of the 2020 season, tied for second-most in the league behind only Sacramento Republic FC’s Russell Cicerone (53). That mark is in line with Williams’ Expected Goals mark over that span (49.26xG), with his shot conversion rate sitting at 23.6 percent. It will be interesting to see how all the parts come together for Head Coach Sean McAuley, but Williams should be a valuable piece as Indy aims to push higher in the Eastern Conference this season.