28 October 2022
A Serie A debut and then a Champions League debut all in the space of five days is not bad going at all for a 19-year-old Englishman in Turin! Of course, we’re referring to Samuel Iling-Junior who represents the latest Juventus Next Gen player to receive a chance in the Juventus First Team.
Having first arrived in Italy back in 2020 from Chelsea, Iling-Junior settled well into the Juventus U19 team, racking up a total of four goals and seven assists in 28 matches for the U19s, whilst also receiving his first call-up to the then, Juventus U23.
For the 2021/22 season, the class of 2003 youngster graduated to Juventus U23, making his debut on 22nd August in the Serie C Coppa Italia in a 3-2 win, going on to then make his Serie C league debut on 3rd October against Mantova. Although not making an appearance he received a first ever call-up to the Juventus First Team for our game against Fiorentina at the close of the season. However, his biggest contributions would come for the U19’s as he helped the young Bianconeri reach the UEFA Youth League semi-finals, in their best ever finish!
This year, it’s fair to say that Samuel has gone from strength to strength. Beginning the 2022/23 season scoring his first goal in the rebranded, Juventus Next Gen against Trento in September, to making his Juventus First Team debut a month later in October against Empoli at the Allianz Stadium. This past Friday night, Massimiliano Allegri decided to introduce the youngster in the 85th minute, becoming only the second Englishman to play for Juventus in the 21st century since Stephy Mavididi in 2018, and the third since David Platt in 1992/93.
With the scoreline at 3-0, Iling-Junior looked very lively in his first minutes wearing the Black & White shirt, looking a threat as he bombed down our left-hand side, putting in four successful passes and making one recovery in his late cameo.
From Serie A to Europe, once again Allegri turned to Iling-Junior, this time in the Champions League, and with 20 minutes to go in our game against Benfica. Samuel looked even more of a threat, as evidenced by an immediate assist, after just seven minutes into his Champions League debut, crossing for Arek Milik to volley home. Then, two minutes later, he was instrumental in our third goal, playing into Matias Soulé with the ball eventually falling to Weston McKennie to score.
Now, with this weekend’s game against Lecce, we eagerly await to see if Samuel will get the chance to showcase his talents once more, either way the Englishman has already made an exciting start to his life in Bianconero!
