George Ilenikhena has completed a move from Monaco to Al-Ittihad, with the Saudi Pro League champions paying a fee reported at around €33m for the 19-year-old striker. The deal was confirmed on 3 February 2026, and Ilenikhena has signed a contract with Al-Ittihad running to June 2029.
Al-Ittihad moved for Ilenikhena because they needed a long-term answer up front. Karim Benzema's future at the club had turned sour over a contract dispute, and the former Real Madrid forward went on to join rivals Al-Hilal in the same window. Rather than replace one veteran with another, Al-Ittihad opted for a teenager they can build around for years, betting on potential over the finished product Benzema once offered.
For Monaco, it's a sizeable profit on a player they only signed 18 months earlier. They brought Ilenikhena in from Royal Antwerp in the summer of 2024 for around €17m, and selling him on for close to double that fee represents smart business, even if it means losing a player who had already made a mark on the biggest stage. Monaco's statement thanked him for his contribution and wished him well, a standard but genuine send-off for a player who arrived as a raw prospect and leaves as a wanted man.
Ilenikhena's numbers at Monaco don't leap off the page — 51 appearances, 10 goals and 2 assists across all competitions — but the moments have been eye-catching. He became Monaco's youngest-ever Champions League scorer, at 18 years and 34 days, breaking a record previously held by Kylian Mbappe, when he came off the bench to score the winner against Barcelona in September 2024. That goal also made him the first player to score against the same opponent in successive Champions League seasons for two different clubs, having netted against Barça for Antwerp the year before. This season he added further important goals, including strikes against Auxerre in Ligue 1 and Orléans in the Coupe de France, and he reached 15 Champions League appearances at 19 years and 157 days, the youngest African player to do so.
The move to Saudi Arabia is a step into an unfamiliar level of expectation. Al-Ittihad are reigning champions and will want their new number nine scoring regularly rather than just producing highlight-reel moments off the bench. Ilenikhena has shown he can handle big occasions, but a leap from squad rotation at Monaco to being the central attacking focus for a title-chasing side is a different challenge altogether. How quickly he adapts to a new league, culture and level of scrutiny will determine whether this fee looks like a bargain or a gamble in a year's time.
Either way, Al-Ittihad have got their man in early enough to shape a pre-season and settle him before the business end of the campaign, and Monaco walk away with a healthy return on a teenager they nurtured for less than two years.