The brilliant Tammy Abraham gesture that made Aston Villa target feel at home

Samuel Iling-Junior appears set to return to England four years after leaving Chelsea for Juventus at the age of 16 as he and Weston McKennie make part of the deal which will see Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz head to Turin.

The winger joined Juventus in September 2020 and played his first two seasons at Juve with their under-19s, making 28 appearances and scoring four goals in his debut campaign, then 38 games and 10 goals in the second. Iling-Junior made his senior debut against Empoli at the Allianz Stadium in October 2022 before then grabbing an assist on his Champions League debut soon after.

A year after Iling-Junior joined Juve, two more Chelsea academy products arrived in Italy as Tammy Abraham signed for Roma in 2021 and then Fikayo Tomori for AC Milan two years ago. Both players reached out to the youngster during his time at Juve so far.

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"I remained at Chelsea from the age of eight until 16, when I moved to Juventus," Iling-Junior told England Football. "So my friend’s dad William Diaz and the scout Richard who spotted me for Chelsea ended up playing a big role in where I am now, because they were the ones who really got me into football as no one in my family was that into sport.

"When I left Chelsea at 16, initially I had moved over to Italy with my Dad and then he would go back-and-forth, with my mum coming in the school holidays, which really helped too.

"After the move to Italy, players like Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham, who had made similar moves from Chelsea to Italy, contacted me to make sure I was doing well.

"I obviously knew them through Chelsea when I was in the academy and Tammy actually bought me a burger after a game once when I was about ten or 11! Having senior England internationals take the time to check in on you meant a lot and made a difference."

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