Within a few months, Nigerian George Ilinykhina transformed from a shadow player into a shining star who quickly made his mark in the Saudi League with his new club, Al-Ittihad, before transferring his brilliance to the international level, scoring in his first appearance with the Nigerian national team, inaugurating a new chapter in his career.
On Friday, Ilinykhina, 20 years old, scored his first international goal with Nigeria, during the 2-1 victory over Madagascar at the start of the 2027 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, after he received his first call-up to the senior national team from coach Eric Schell.
The Al-Ittihad striker did not take long to leave his mark, as he started the match and scored the equalizer in stoppage time of the first half with a powerful shot with his left foot, before Nigeria settled the confrontation in the second half.
The Nigerian player's summoning did not come out of nowhere; Ilyinichina started the 2026-2027 season in a completely different way with Al-Ittihad, and according to the official figures of the Saudi Professional League, he scored 4 goals and made two assists during his first 6 matches in the league, and in only 325 minutes. Across all competitions, he reached 6 goals and two assists in the first 9 matches of this season.
Among his goals, the double that carried special weight against Al-Nasr came when he scored both goals in Al-Ittihad’s victory (2-1) in Jeddah, inflicting on his opponent his first loss in the league this season.
Ilyinichina was also chosen twice as best player in the match during the first rounds, and one of his goals won the Goal of the Week award, according to the Saudi Professional League.
But George's story did not begin in Jeddah, as he was born in Lagos, Nigeria, on August 16, 2006, and moved to France at a young age, where he grew up in the Paris region. The irony is that he played a goalkeeper before moving to the striker position, as one of his former coaches mentioned in an interview published by the Paris Football Association that George was a goalkeeper with Bourg La Reine before moving to Anthony Evolution Foot, where his attacking talent developed.
From there, a very rapid upward journey began, and he reached the first team of Amiens when he was still sixteen years old, and became the youngest scorer in the history of the French second division when he opened his goals at the age of 16 years and 150 days, before moving in the summer of 2023 to the Belgian Royal Antwerp.
In Belgium, the moment came that brought his name to the forefront of European football. In December 2023, Antwerp faced Barcelona in the Champions League. The result was a draw (2-2) in stoppage time, before Ilyinichina appeared and scored the winning goal (3-2) in the 90+2 minute. He was 17 years and 119 days old at the time, making him one of the youngest players to score in the history of the Champions League. European Football Association statistics place him among the five youngest scorers in the history of the competition in its modern format.
After just one season, he moved to Monaco, but Barcelona once again featured in his story. In September 2024, Ilyinichina came on as a substitute against the Spanish team in the Champions League, and ran behind the defense before shooting the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen, giving Monaco a victory (2-1). UEFA chose him as Man of the Match when he was only 18 years and 34 days old, making him the youngest player to score for Monaco in the Champions League, surpassing the record held by Kylian Mbappe. What is even more strange is that he had scored the winning goal against Barcelona in the Champions League for the second time in a row, but in the shirt of a different team.
During his experience with Monaco, he participated in 51 matches in various competitions, during which he scored 10 goals and made two assists, before the Union decided to move to include him last February.
Al-Jeddawi club announced the signing of a two-and-a-half-year contract, linking him to the team until the summer of 2029.
As for the financial value of the deal, the two clubs did not officially disclose it, but the French newspaper “L’Equipe” reported that Monaco received 33 million euros in exchange for the player’s transfer to Al-Ittihad, while “Agence France-Presse” quoted a knowledgeable source as a figure of 30 million euros. Therefore, the value of the deal, according to available reports, can be placed in the range of 30 to 33 million euros.
What is interesting is that Ilinykhina's first months in Jeddah did not suggest what would happen later. The young striker arrived during the second half of last season, and did not get many minutes, remaining without scoring contributions in his first matches. As the new season approaches, his future has become one of the transfer market files, especially with the player’s desire to have more time to participate.
The Italian Sky Sports network confirmed on July 31 that Genoa had included Ilinykhina among its attacking options, while other reports linked the English player, Post Ham, and Germany's Schalke 04, in addition to the interest of Spain's Sevilla.
The Sevilla file in particular has reached an advanced stage, as the player’s agent, Badou Sambago, spoke of the Spanish club’s desire to sign him, explaining that Al-Ittihad was not willing to allow him to leave on loan, and that the player himself had no problem continuing in Jeddah as long as he got the opportunity to participate.
According to transfer market reports, there were discussions about a Spanish offer of up to 10 million euros, in addition to 3 million bonuses and a percentage of the future sale, at a time when the federation’s demands - at the time - were estimated at about 20 million euros to abandon him permanently. These are numbers that reflect the player’s situation at that time, before his level exploded at the beginning of the current season.
And here specifically the story changed; The player whose future Al-Ittihad was studying during the summer became, within weeks, one of the team's most important offensive cards. Two goals in the “King Cup” against Al-Najma, then a goal against Al-Qadisiyah, then a double against Al-Nasr and a goal against Al-Fayhaa, in addition to two goals against Al-Faisaly. A series that quickly moved him from a player looking for minutes to a key player, and then to the Nigerian national team.
For Al-Ittihad, the issue may be bigger than just the success of a young striker. Ilyinichina is 20 years old. He plays as a striker. He has previously scored in the Champions League. He has experience in France, Belgium and Saudi Arabia, and is now an international player with Nigeria. Most importantly, he is linked to a long contract with Al-Ittihad until June 2029, which gives the club a strong negotiating position in the event that European clubs return to knocking on the door.
If the player attracted the interest of clubs from England, Italy, Germany and Spain last summer, at a time when he was not a starter with Al-Ittihad, then the continuation of his current level, and the consolidation of his position with the Nigerian national team, may raise the level of those interested in him and the value of potential offers significantly when the next summer transfer market opens.
Therefore, it does not seem unlikely that Ilyinichina will turn into one of the hottest transfer files in the Saudi Professional League next summer, especially if he maintains his current rate of contributions. Al-Ittihad may find itself facing financial offers that clearly exceed the numbers presented to the player before the start of the season, and perhaps facing one of the largest purchase offers made to a player active in the Saudi League.
But talk of a “standard offer” is still premature; There are still no negotiations, according to reliable public sources, for next summer or a specific offer on which to build. What is certain is that the data has changed: the player whom European clubs were trying to borrow weeks ago has become a starter in Al-Ittihad, a top scorer against Al-Nasr, and an international scorer in his first match with Nigeria.
Perhaps these few months sum up the entire story of George Ilyinichina: a striker who started as a child between the goalkeepers in the suburbs of Paris, then became the youngest scorer in the French second division, defeated Barcelona twice with two different shirts, and moved to Jeddah in a deal that approached 33 million euros, before establishing himself in Al-Ittihad and opening his international record with the “Green Eagles.”
Saudi Arabian Athletics team player, Mohammed Tolu, won third place and a bronze medal in the shot put competition, within the athletics competitions, at the twentieth Asian Games “Nagoya 2026”, which took place on Saturday.
Tolo, nicknamed the “Giant of Petanque,” achieved bronze after he threw a distance of 20.48 meters on his third attempt out of six attempts, while Iran won the gold and India won the silver.
It is noteworthy that the number achieved by Tolo in the current edition is better than his previous record in the last edition of the session, “Hangzhou 2022”, which reached 20.18 meters, as a result of which he won the silver medal.
With Tolo's bronze medal, the Saudi tally rose to 7 Asian medals (2 silver, 5 bronze).
Today, Saturday, the crowning ceremony of the Saudi e-sports team took place with the bronze medal in the “Fighting Games” competition, within the Asian tournament competitions.
The trio, Badr Al-Omair, Osama Al-Hujaili, and Shaman Al-Zaqi won the bronze medal, while South Korea achieved the gold, Japan the silver, and Hong Kong the bronze (repeat).
The Saudi equestrian team player, Samantha Al-Saifi, obtained 131.176 points in the competitions of the second day of the dressage competition, which concludes tomorrow, Sunday.
Samantha, who ranked seventeenth in the individual competition, is awaiting the results of the riders participating with her in the race. To determine the fate of her participation in the final round held at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.
While her fellow rider, Ahmed Al Sharbatly, left the competition, obtaining 119.852 points and 39th place.
The Saudi fencing team will meet its Vietnamese counterpart, in the semi-finals of the team fencing tournament, in the Asian tournament, at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, Sunday.
The fencing team is represented by Hassan Abed, Khalifa Al-Amiri, Jawad Al-Dawoud, and Ahmed Hazazi.
The Cyber team was eliminated in the round of 16, after losing to Kazakhstan with a score of 32-45.
In the athletics competitions, the Saudi team player, runner Abdulaziz Atafi, came fifth in the semi-finals of the 200m race, which took place today, Saturday, with a time of 20.88 seconds.
Atafy passed the qualifying round in the morning, with a time of 21.15 seconds.
The runner, Abdullah Abkar, had passed the qualifiers for the 200m race with a time of 20.97 seconds. He was scheduled to participate in the semi-finals, but he suffered a posterior muscle injury that prevented him from doing so. The injury also prevented Ali Al-Baydi from completing the decathlon competition.
In Sunday’s competitions, the runners Nayef Al-Subaie and Muhammad Al-Maawi will enter the 400m hurdles qualifiers at 12 noon, and the relay team will enter the 100m qualifiers at 10pm.
