George Ilenikhena Scout Report At Royal Antwerp 2023/2024 – Mark van Bommel 17 Year Old Goalscoring Super Sub

George Ilenikhena has had a very good start to his professional football career.

Ilenikhena was born in Nigeria but moved to France at the age of 3, where he eventually joined Ligue 2 side Amienss academy.

He made his first-team debut for the club last season, making 16 appearances in total for Amiens in Ligue 2 and scoring two goals in the process.

His limited performances showed enough for Royal Antwerp to sign the 17-year-old, with the current Belgian champions paying a fee in the region of €6 million to secure the talented strikers services.

Though he has only started three matches in total this season for Mark van Bommels side across all competitions, the youngster has turned into a super sub for the Dutch manager, with Ilenikhena scoring nine goals across all competitions this season.

The last two have been very late impact goals, with the 17-year-old scoring a late equaliser against Anderlecht in the league while also scoring the winner in their final UEFA Champions League group stage match against Barcelona.

In fact, the goal against the current Spanish champions made Ilenikhena the youngest-ever French goal scorer in the competition, surpassing Paris Saint-Germains Warren Zaïre-Emery.

This tactical analysis and scout report will provide a more in-depth look at the talent the 17-year-old possesses and whether he could be an eventual starter for van Bommels side. 

George Ilenikhena Position & style of play

Regarding where George Ilenikhena prefers to play and how he fits the teams tactics, the 17-year-old excels at playing through the middle, where he runs into a potential issue regarding starting games with Antwerp.

The French forward did inherit the #9 shirt when he arrived in Belgium, but he has been stuck behind Dutch international Vincent Janssen, with van Bommel preferring to play with one striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The heat map above shows the average positions the 17-year-old has found himself in this season.

As we can see, most of Ilenikhenas actions have occurred inside the opposition penalty box, but the French striker offers much more.

The Antwerp striker has all the traits