Samuel Iling-Junior became Boro’s fifth senior addition of the January transfer window when he completed a Deadline Day loan move from Aston Villa.
Here is all you need to know about the 21-year-old…
- Iling-Junior was born in Islington, London in October 2003
- He joined Chelsea’s Academy at the age of eight and remained with the club for nine years
- Italian giants Juventus snapped him up in the summer of 2020, beating the likes of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain to his signature
- Iling-Junior initially linked up with Juventus’ Next Gen squad, shining for the club’s Under-19s with four goals and seven assists in his first season
- The following campaign, the then-teenager was promoted to the U23s and scored 13 goals in 36 appearances, helping Juve reach the UEFA Youth League semi-finals
- His progress continued when he made his Serie A debut in October 2022, and he registered an assist on his Champions League bow later that week
- Iling-Junior’s first senior goal for Juventus came on his first start in Serie A, against Atalanta in May 2023
- He played the full 90 minutes on the left side of midfield as Juventus beat Atalanta in the Coppa Italia final in May 2024
- That was one of 45 appearances he made in his two seasons with Juve's senior team
- The versatile wideman has represented England from Under-15s to U21s level, winning the Under-19 European Championship in 2022 and appearing 11 times to date for the U21s
- He made a permanent move to Aston Villa in the summer of 2024 before quickly returning to Serie A on loan with Bologna
- Illing-Junior played in all eight of Bologna’s league phase fixtures in the Champions League this season, scoring once
- He made 16 appearances in all competitions for the Italian side before being recalled by Villa and then making the switch to the Riverside