18 year old Monaco forward George Ilenikhena who grabbed the headlines in their 3-3 draw against Benfica with his third goal in two games since his return from injury isn’t eligible to play for France at the moment, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Ilenikhena has had an injury hit start to life with Monaco following his move from Belgium side Antwerp in the summer. It has restricted him to just two goals in Ligue 1 and one in the UEFA Champions League.
There has been talks about his international future with many suggesting that he is more inclined to represent France ahead of Nigeria, due to the fact that he was raised there but we can exclusively reveal that he hasn’t been issued a French passport yet.
He is presently registered in the League as a Nigerian and only has a Nigerian passport. Attempts by the French Federation to get him a French passport hasn’t yielded any positive results since the first step that was taken last year.
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It means he can play for the Super Eagles if he agrees to the overtures from the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle, who is a huge fan and wouldn’t mind having him in his world cup qualifiers squad for the games against Rwanda and Zimbabwe respectively in March.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, he arrived in France with his parents at the age of 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 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 history of the league, 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 “supersub.”
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, George signed for AS Monaco in July 2024 on a five year contract.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
