Who is Samuel Iling-Junior? He left Chelsea behind to pursue a career in Italy, but reports suggest this young attacker may be about to swap Turin for London in the near future.
Ange Postecoglou already possesses the kind of attacking roster that most managers would be envious of, but injuries to Ivan Perisic, Manor Solomon, and Richarlison have got the Spurs boss wanting more.
Enter, Samuel Iling-Junior. Apparently, Tottenham are keen on the 20-year-old winger who has been catching the eye during his time with Juventus, and it’s thought the Serie A side could be prepared to accept an offer for their player (Football Insider).
Name: Samuel Iling-Junior
Age: 20-years-old
Place of birth: London, England
Current club: Juventus
Former clubs: Chelsea
International appearances: 3 caps for England U21s (Transfermarkt)
Club appearances: 113 appearances, 21 goals at both senior and youth levels (Transfermarkt)
(Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
Samuel Iling-Junior career stats
He never made a senior appearance for Chelsea before leaving for Italy in 2020 and, understandably given his age, Samuel Iling-Junior has only made his breakthrough at Juventus within the last 12 months.
Iling-Junior made 12 Serie A appearances last season, bagging one goal and one assist, and he also featured in the Europa League and Champions League, picking up another assist in the latter (Transfermarkt).
So far this term, Iling-Junior has had to settle for a place on the Juventus bench most of the time, but he does have four appearances and one assist to his name this year (Transfermarkt). He’s also made the step up to the England U21 squad in the last couple of months, having won three caps at that level since his debut back in September.
Samuel Iling-Junior strengths and weaknesses
Iling-Junior is a good, old-fashioned left winger who likes to stay out as wide as possible, beat a full-back, and send a cross into the box. In an era defined by inverted wingers and inside forwards, it’s refreshing to see a young player taking on the out-and-out winger role like this.
As well as being a tricky customer to deal with in attacking areas, Iling-Junior has an exceptional work rate and will often be seen tracking back to help in defensive areas. He has even been used in the left-back role at times in the Juventus youth team, which shows just how versatile he can be and how high his positional awareness is.
Iling-Junior is also fairly strong and it’s not easy for defenders to muscle him off the ball. This would set him up nicely to re-enter the more physical English game. Think about the way Jeremy Doku plays for Manchester City, and you have a good idea of what Iling-Junior could offer Spurs.
The main discernible weakness in Iling-Junior’s game at this stage is his goalscoring ability. He can finish incredibly well, but the issue is in getting him into dangerous areas to be able to score. Whether he would suit Postecoglou’s preference for attackers playing high up the pitch and contributing goals is unclear, at least based on the way he currently plays in Juventus’ system.
What are people saying about Samuel Iling-Junior?
A lot of people are saying Samuel Iling-Junior fits the profile of the kind of player Spurs are looking for right now under Ange Postecoglou: young, hard-working, creative, confident.
Tactical expert, Nathan Clark claimed as much on Twitter recently, and it seems Spurs fans are keen on the idea of the signing, too. One fan said “Juventus have a history of giving us gems,” with reference to Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski, and suggested Iling-Junior could be next.
Another Spurs supporter said “€20m for Samuel Iling-Junior, would be a steal.” According to Gazzetta dello Sport, it may not even require an offer that high, with talk of €15m (£13.1m) being enough to secure the signing.
What do The Spurs Web think?
I do like the look of Iling-Junior, but I don’t know that we’ve seen quite enough of him to take that gamble on signing him right now. I know we like the idea of having young talent, but I feel like we need a bit more experience if we want a player who can walk into the first team.
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