Samuel Iling-Junior has spoken exclusively to James Horncastle of The Athletic about life as a Juventus first team player.
The London native joined Juve’s academy from Chelsea in 2020 and proceeded to feature in the club’s Next Gen side in Serie C last season.
Massimiliano Allegri has included the 19-year-old in the matchday squad for the last seven Sere A fixtures. The forward has notched eight appearances for the Old Lady across all competitions in his debut foray in top flight football.
Iling-Junior revealed that he gets on well with Wojciech Szczęsny specifically due to their mutual passion for Arsenal. But it was Fabio Miretti, Nicolò Fagioli, and Matías Soulé who first struck the Englishman upon his arrival in Turin:
“They were the first boys I met when I joined. I was surprised by them. Soulé was injured in my first few months, then he came in. He’s from Argentina and I started to see the different types of players there are around the world. It makes you adapt your brain and think maybe I can try something like this, maybe I can bring it into my playing style. Miretti is technically a genius. He’s so smart.”
As someone who played for Chelsea for nearly a decade, Iling-Junior is naturally extremely well-versed in Didier Drogba’s attributes. The youngster claims that Dušan Vlahović shares similarities with the iconic Ivorian striker:
“Didier had that energy. Obviously he was a finisher. But when you go on the pitch I think energy is the most important thing in a top player.
“It goes through the team. You can see everyone else is going to back him up, especially leading the line. Dusan has got the lot. He speaks on the pitch. But it’s more his energy. When he’s going to press, he just naturally takes you with him.”
Iling-Junior continued to compliment his teammates, stating that Ángel Di María’s qualities are incomprehensible:
“Every ball he puts into the box, it lands on someone. I don’t know how he does it. It’s the little details of always getting the ball precisely onto someone’s head.”
On a final note, the young winger stated that he remains focussed on progressing to become a crucial member of Juventus:
“I’m 100 per cent enjoying it, But I can’t rest on my laurels. I’ve just got to keep going. Why can’t I do more? There’s so much more to do, taking those steps to get my name into the starting line-up, playing in the Champions League consistently.”
