Samuel Iling-Junior (born 4 October 2003) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a winger for club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

. A youth product of Chelsea and

, Iling-Junior made his debut for

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

Juventus U23 Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio Giusepp ...

in the 2021–22 season, while also reaching the UEFA Youth League semi-finals with the U19 squad. In the following campaign, Iling-Junior started with Juventus Next Gen, scoring four goals in seven matches, and then was promoted to the first team in December 2022, after making his debut both in Serie A and Champions League. Iling-Junior has represented England at various youth international levels, having won a UEFA European Under-19 Championship in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London, Iling-Junior joined Chelsea academy in 2011 at the age of eight, and spent nine years with the club. He was promoted to the under-19s aged 16. In 2020, he decided to leave Chelsea, rejecting an athletic scholarship deal, attracting the interest from clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain,

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

and

; he signed a three-year contract with the latter in September of that year.

Juventus

2020–2022

On 7 October 2020, Iling-Junior was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'''s list of the 60 best young talents in the world born in 2003. On 2 April 2021, he was first called up by

alongside his U19 teammate

Gabriele Mulazzi Gabriele Mulazzi (born 1 April 2003) is an Italian professional Football player, footballer who plays as a Full-back (association football), full-back for club Juventus Next Gen. Club career Mulazzi started playing football aged five in an a ...

for a

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

match against

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

. He finished the 2020–21 season with four goals and seven assists in 28 matches for the under-19 team. On 22 August, he made his debut for Juventus U23 in a 3–2 win against

Pro Sesto Pro Sesto 1913 S.r.l. (formerly ''Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Nuova Pro Sesto'' and initially ''Associazione Calcio Pro Sesto'') is an association football club, based in Sesto San Giovanni, Lombardy, Italy. Pro Sesto currently plays ...

in the

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C ( it, Serie C Italian Cup), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the c ...

. His Serie C debut came on 3 October, replacing Nikola Sekulov in the second half against

Mantova Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Europ ...

. Iling-Junior was first called up to the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

on 21 May 2022, for a match against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. In the 2021–22 season, he improved his stats, having played 36 matches and scored 13 goals. Iling-Junior also helped the U19s reach the UEFA Youth League semifinals, their best-ever placing in the competition.

2022–present

Iling-Junior scored his first professional goal on 3 September 2022, in the 13th minute in

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

–Juventus Next Gen, their first season match. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

debut for the first team in a match against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

, on 21 October, coming on as a substitute for

Filip Kostić Filip Kostić (, ; born 1 November 1992) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder or left wing-back for Serie A club Juventus and the Serbia national team. Club career Radnički Kragujevac Kostić made his senior de ...

in the 84th minute. On 25 October, Iling-Junior made his Champions League debut against Benfica, replacing Kostić in the 70th minute with Juventus trailing 4–1. He assisted

Arkadiusz Milik Arkadiusz Krystian Milik (; born 28 February 1994) is a Polish professional association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Serie A club Juventus F.C., Juventus, on loan from Ligue 1 club Olympique de M ...

's 4–2 goal after six minutes, and provided a key pass for Weston McKennie's goal two minutes later. Four days later, in an away match against

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

, Iling-Junior assisted

Nicolò Fagioli Nicolò Fagioli (born 12 February 2001) is an Italian association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Juventus F.C., Juventus and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. Club career Youth career In 2015, Fa ...

's winner after only 41 seconds from entering the pitch; however, he suffered a right-ankle sprain after being fouled by

Federico Di Francesco Federico Di Francesco (born 14 June 1994) is an Italian professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger for club U.S. Lecce, Lecce. Club career Pescara Di Francesco began his career on Delfino ...

, ruling him out for 20 days. On 19 December, Juventus announced that Iling-Junior renewed his contract until 2025, being subsequently promoted to the first team. He was promoted after scoring four goals in nine matches for Next Gen (two of which were during the previous season). He made his first-minute debut with the first team on the 19th of the following month, in Juventus–

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

, in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. On 2 March 2023, Iling-Junior started the first leg of the final of the

with Juventus Next Gen and scored a 47th-minute equaliser against

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

, against whom they lost 2–1. On 11 April, he also played the second leg, in which he kicked a penalty he had won over the post at the 90th minute; they lost 3–2 (5–3 on aggregate). On 7 May, he made his first start in Serie A and scored his first goal with Juventus' first team, netting the opener in a 2–0 away win over

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

International career

Born in England, Iling-Junior is of DR Congolese descent. He was a member of the U17's 2019 Syrenka Cup winning squad. On 6 October 2021, he made his debut for the England U19s as a substitute during a 3–1 defeat to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in Marbella, Spain. On 17 June 2022, Iling-Junior was included in the England U19 squad for the

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2022) was the 19th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (69th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth footba ...

, which England won with a 3–1 extra time victory over

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

on 1 July. On 21 September 2022, he made his England U20 debut in a 3–0 win over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

at the

Pinatar Arena The Pinatar Arena is an association football stadium located in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain. The 3,000-seat stadium is part of the larger Pinatar Arena Football Center which also includes a sports club, hotel, training fields, and other a ...

in Spain. On 24 March 2023, he scored a brace in England U20's 2–0 win to Germany U20.

Style of play

Iling-Junior mainly plays a winger, either on the left or right. His versatility allowed him to be deployed various areas of the pitch by Juventus U19 coach

Andrea Bonatti Andrea Bonatti (born 6 August 1984) is an Italian professional football coach. Career His career started in 2008 as an athletic trainer for Lumezzane for two years. He continued with the same role with Crotone, Grosseto and Salernitana. I ...

, namely as a left-back, left or right

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. His main qualities are his goalscoring, dribbling and running abilities.

Personal life

Iling-Junior moved to Italy during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, which he found challenging. He has become nearly fluent in Italian. He trains privately with Saul Isaakson-Hurst, a former Chelsea and Tottenham academy coach.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

England U19 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship:

Juventus Next Gen *

runner-up:

Notes

References

External links

Samuel Iling-Junior
at the Juventus F.C. website
Samuel Iling-Junior
at LegaSerieA.it * {{DEFAULTSORT:Illing-Junior, Samuel 2003 births Living people Footballers from Islington (district) English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers English sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Men's association football wingers Chelsea F.C. players Juventus FC players Juventus Next Gen players Serie A players Serie C players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Black British sportsmen