Football has a habit of making fools out of ‘experts’ – so when Ligue 1 viewers were writing off Arsenal and Tottenham target Jonathan David only a few weeks after he became Lille’s £30 million record signing, they ran the risk of being left red-faced.
Then again, after the Canada international failed to score in his first ten league games, even the most ardent David fan wouldn’t have predicted how his debut season at the Stade Pierre Mauroy would turn out.
Six months after opening his Ligue 1 account at long last in a 4-0 thrashing of Lorient in November, the former Gent striker was scribing his name with magic marker into the French football history books, a massive part of the first Lille side since the days of Gervinho, Idrissa Gana Gueye and Eden Hazard to secure a domestic title.
David scored ten goals between January and May as Lille knocked Paris Saint-Germain off their velvet perch.
And while Les Dogues have looked a shadow of their title-winning selves since the departure of talismanic coach Christophe Galtier, David has at least picked up where he left off.
He has scored eight times this season already – taking his tally to 18 in 33 games since the turn of the year.
In fact, no-one has found the net more regularly than David in 2021/22. If he stumbled out of the blocks last term, he’s exploded out of them like a pedigree stallion this time around.
Arsenal and Tottenham target Jonathan David may join Lionel Messi at PSG
And how’s this Arsenal fans. Speaking in September 2020, David admitted he would have loved to play for the Gunners.
What’s more, Arsenal apparently had him in mind if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang decided to leave the club (Goal).
But suddenly a striker who was also linked with a host of Premier League clubs at the start of the covid-19 pandemic, including Aston Villa, Wolves, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, is being mentioned as a potential addition to Paris Saint-Germain’s already fearsome front line.
According to Le10 Sport, a cash-strapped Lille side saddled with debt won’t stand in David’s way if he wants to leave in 2022.
At least when the time does come to depart, he’ll leave as a Ligue 1 champion and modern-day Lille legend. Cynics shouldn’t judge a player after only a few short weeks.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
