On September 19, 2024, a teenage AS Monaco striker George Ilenikhena announced his name to the world with a sublime strike against European giant, FC Barcelona in the 2024/2025 UEFA Champions’ League group phase. Ilenikhena attracted interest from football aficionados after scoring the winner for Monaco in the 71st minute after replacing Breel Embolo a minute before the hour mark.
The goal which gave AS Monaco a 2:1 win against the 2015 champions eclipsed the record set by Kylian Mbappe, former Monaco player and 2018 World Cup winner becoming Monaco’s youngest goalscorer (18 years and 34 days) in the UEFA Champions League. Mbappe held the record for 7 years, achieving the feat at 18 years and 63 days in 2017.
He also ended Barcelona’s unbeaten run for the new season, with Hansi Flick’s side going into the game on Thursday night with five games unbeaten in the LaLiga, thus 15 points out of possible 15 – and won the Player of the Match Award.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, George Ilenikhena arrived in France with his parents at three and lived in Antony. He quickly took up football in his city’s club and completed all his training there, before joining Amiens in 2021.
The striker wasted no time in showing his sense of goal with 24 goals at the U-17 National level. The pure left-footer then joined the first team and made his debut in Ligue 2 on January 10, 2023, before scoring three days later in Bordeaux, becoming the youngest scorer in the league’s history, at 16 years and 150 days.
The Nigerian joined Royal Antwerp in the following summer transfer window and was fully a part of the side’s rotation. In each of his appearances, he has brought a lot, notably scoring six goals as a “super-sub.”
This is a role that he would maintain against Barcelona by delivering for his team at the end of added time, becoming the youngest Nigerian scorer in the C1. After scoring 14 goals in all competitions, Ilenikhena signed for AS Monaco in July 2024 on a five-year contract.
A few days back, ‘The Prince of Monaco’ Victor Ikpeba called on the Super Eagles to get Ilenikhena on the back of his heroics in the UEFA Champions League.
Ikpeba, whose time at Monaco was the highlight of his glittering career, told SCORENigeria that the former Antwerp striker will be a most welcome addition to the Super Eagles and so everything be done to convince him to change international allegiance.
“I have been following the remarkable progress of the boy, he’s quick and will certainly be one for the future for the Super Eagles,” said Ikpeba, who credited former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr for convincing several players born overseas to opt to play for Nigeria. “I know that he has already been capped by the French age-grade team, but we can still get him to play for the Super Eagles.
“It will be a tough battle to do this as we can see that Michael Olise has already opted for France, but I believe with the right and timely approach, beginning with getting to his family, he can go on to play for the Super Eagles.
He added: “We already boast many proven strikers who are doing very well in Europe, but he is certainly one for the future and we should do everything to get him. This is the time to get him in and thereafter he can fight for his place in the team,” Ikpeba said.
A representative of the forward detailed in an interview shortly after his transfer to AS Monaco in 2023: “George won’t say no to the Super Eagles. He is a Nigerian and proud to be one. But that isn’t on his mind currently, as he just moved to a new club in France,” as quoted by the representative.
The representative also noted that the former U-20 coach of the Nigerian team, Ladan Bosso, approached the young Ilenikhena about the prospect of representing Nigeria at the 2023 U-20 FIFA World Cup.
His move to Monaco follows in the footsteps of Nigerian predecessors like Ikpeba, Sani Kaita, Henry Onyekuru, and Elderson Echeijile, who have all donned the red and white of Monaco.
The young striker is an avid admirer of Belgian star Romelu Lukaku and models his game after the former Manchester United forward. This influence is evident in Ilenikhena’s playing style, characterized by blistering pace, technical prowess, and a keen eye for goal.
Despite representing France at the youth level since his debut in 2021, Ilenikhena retains the option to switch his international allegiance to Nigeria in the future.
With all this being said, the NFF should act fast before it’s too late, irrespective of the bundle of attacking options in the National team, integration is something that should be introduced for the National team to compete at the highest level and avoid what happened with Oliseh.
–Benprince Ezeh
080685998789
For story submissions and inquiries, please email us at citypeopleonline96@gmail.com