Newcastle United are now proving to be AC Milan’s ‘biggest problem’ in their attempts to sign Jonathan David from Lille with the Premier League giants now pursuing the Canada international too.
With his contract running down and set to expire in 2025, the striker’s price-tag is shrinking almost by the week.
As Tuttomercatoweb point out, Lille had been demanding a minimum of £30 million whenever clubs had expressed an interest in recent windows. Now, with only 18 months or so until he hits free-agency, there is a very real chance that Jonathan David – wanted by AC Milan and pursued by Newcastle United too – could be leaving the Stade Pierre Mauroy for a fraction of his previous price-tag.
Newcastle United eye up Lille striker Jonathan David
Serie A giants Milan have been chasing the forward for some time now. David, TMW add, is their number one target. Rival interest from Newcastle, however, is threatening to scupper the Rossoneri’s best-laid plans. Eddie Howe’s side have reportedly ‘tested the waters’ with Lille.
What’s more, Milan would find it ‘impossible’ to compete with the Saudi-backed Magpies if they found themselves embarking upon a bidding war in the New Year. Newcastle, lest we forget, snatched Milan’s homegrown hero Sandro Tonali in a club-record £60 million deal last summer.
Brooklyn-born David scored 26 times for Lille in 2022/23 but has found goals harder to come by this term. That late header against PSG at the weekend was only his fifth from open play in 2023/24.
Hailed by Thierry Henry
Newcastle are long-time admirers of the one-time Gent frontman, however. Canada’s Magpies-mad coach John Herdman admitted before the Qatar World Cup that Newcastle had asked him about a number of his players, with David almost certainly among them.
“When you have a player like Jonathan David, who runs the way he does, in behind…” Premier League and France legend Thierry Henry told CBS Sports in 2022.
“If he sees the centre-back dropping, then he will go in behind. As soon as he sees there is a gap, he will run. And he is also pretty strong too. And he loves contact (and battling with defenders).”
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