Aston Villa's Samuel Iling-Junior
Aston Villa's Samuel Iling-Junior
Aston Villa’s Samuel Iling-Junior hopes to impress this summer to force his way into Unai Emery’s plans next season.
The 21-year-old joined Villa last from Juventus in a deal worth £12m, plus Enzo Barrenechea for £7m, in a separate transaction that saw Douglas Luiz move in the opposite direction for a fee of £42m.
In the first half of last season at Bologna, Iling-Junior made just seven league appearances and failed to start a single game.
However, he featured more prominently in the Champions League, making three starts and appearing as a substitute against Villa during the league phase.
He then joined Middlesbrough on loan for the second half of the campaign, but initially had to wait for a consistent run in the team.
From the start of March, Iling-Junior started all 10 of Boro’s remaining Championship games, recording three goal contributions in wins over Oxford United and Blackburn Rovers.
He played as a left-back under Michael Carrick and will now battle it out with Tino Livramento to start in that position for England Under-21s in this summer’s European Championships.
“I definitely settled into the left-back role and going up and down the pitch [at Boro],” he said in an interview with The Sun. “I enjoyed that, bringing my parts into the team with assists, tricks and being creative.
“It's an honour to be one of the players that the manager has chosen and I want to repay that on the pitch.
“Tino has obviously had that great season with Newcastle. The competition is always healthy. If I can bring out the best of him and he brings out the best of me and we go and win the tournament then it’s happy days.”
Iling-Junior has represented England at various youth levels and is targeting a senior call-up in time for the World Cup in the USA next summer.
Playing for the Under-21s for an extended period did Morgan Rogers' chances of playing for the senior Three Lions no harm, and Iling-Junior hopes to now be treading that same path.
“You have to put the World Cup in your sights and knock on that door or at least put myself in a position to be knocking on that door,” he added.
“There's a pathway and there's always someone watching. All the boys that have made their debut from the U21s and are now in that squad, that just goes to show that if you keep putting your mind to it and work with the coaches then you'll get repaid for your hard work.
“And definitely get back into Villa after this tournament and have some conversations and make an impact there as well.
“Unai Emery has always had conversations with me, so that helps. And he's kept track of my loans. So that’s definitely a good relationship and once we get back after the tournament then we'll have those conversations.
“But, for now, it’s definitely just focusing on the Euros and we'll see when I get back to Villa.”