George Ilenikhena: A Lagos diamond

George Ilenikhena, who was born in Lagos on August 16, 2006, is becoming well-known in Belgium. The young youngster is presently Antwerp’s luxury joker. He was born and raised in France, where he moved when he was three years old.

On Sunday, George Ilenikhena was unable to locate the back of the net. His Antwerp side won the match with three goals in the first thirty minutes of stoppage time, and he had just enough time to see Genk cut the lead to 3-2 after entering as a substitute in the 97th minute. As a result, the 17-year-old will not be scoring for the Belgian champions as a wild card again, as he has done three times in the previous four games. Four entries that highlighted the footballer that was born in Lagos.

George Ilenikhena, aged 17 years and 74 days, made history by becoming the youngest player to score in back-to-back Jupiler Pro League games since Romelu Lukaku in 2010 (16 years and 312 days), and he did it while getting very little playing time. Ilenikhena has made only 11 appearances since the season’s beginning, totaling just 114 minutes of action.

Records of precociousness are already well known to George Ilenikhena. At the age of sixteen, he made his Ligue 2 debut last year, making him the youngest goalscorer in Amiens’ history. The Picards foresee a bright future for him, having relocated him to Antwerp in August for 6 million euros, despite his market worth being assessed at 1 million euros.

George Ilenikhena was born in Nigeria, a country that produces strikers like clockwork. Nigerian center-forwards have been a fixture on European fields for many years, particularly in Scandinavia and the top five European leagues. For instance, Leverkusen, the league leaders, have Victor Boniface as their deadly weapon this season. He continues the legacy of Victor Osimhen, who led Napoli back to the Italian title by winning the Serie A scoring title the previous season.