Aston Villa youngster Samuel Iling-Junior has attracted interest from a number of Championship clubs, according to reports.
With the new Premier League season now underway, some of Villa’s fringe players find themselves in limbo. 21-year-old Iling-Junior is among the players who don’t appear to be in Unai Emery’s plans and haven’t yet found moves or loans elsewhere.
The winger has never played in the Premier League or in any competitive fixture for Villa since joining from Juventus, where he featured many times. He’s been a pawn in PSR plays and his prospects of playing for Villa in 2025/26 don’t appear any better than before.
The former Chelsea academy player has been linked with another loan move to the Championship in the current summer transfer window, with The Guardian reporting that several as-yet unnamed second-tier clubs have expressed an interest in securing his services.
It’s a shame his potential has been chewed up in the machinery of football’s financial regulations but Iling-Junior is still managing to make his way in the game.
He spent the second half of the 2024/25 season on loan at Middlesbrough, playing 16 times in what was ultimately a fruitless quest for promotion. He has top-flight experience in Italy but looks destined for second division football again this season.
Judging by Villa’s performances so far, Emery should perhaps consider another look at the England Under-21 international.
London-born winger Iling-Junior is a product of the Chelsea academy but turned down a scholarship offer to pursue opportunities abroad, joining Juventus and eventually breaking into their first team during the 2022/23 season.
He impressed with his ability to play in several roles and made his first goal contribution in a Champions League group stage match against Benfica, a 4-3 defeat for Juventus.
Iling-Junior played in a total of 45 matches for the Bianconeri, scoring twice and providing four assists, a presentable record for a player who was often deployed as a full-back or right-back.
He moved to Villa in the summer of 2024 as part of the deal that took Douglas Luiz to an ill-fated spell in Turin. Iling-Junior was immediately loaned to Bologna, where he made 16 appearances and scored in Bologna’s first-ever win in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund.
But his loan to Juventus was cut short and he was diverted to Middlesbrough, where he played under manager Michael Carrick until the end of 2024/25 and finished tenth in the second tier of English football.
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