Jonathan David took a long time to settle in French club Lille. Three months, in fact.
He scored his first league goal a year ago, after joining Lille from Belgian club Ghent last August.
Since then, the 21-year-old Canada international has become one of the most sought-after young forwards in Europe.
David’s midweek goal in the 1-0 Champions League win over Salzburg was his 12e this season, all competitions. Only Erling Haaland (13 goals) has scored more goals in all competitions among players born in 2000 or later in the five biggest European leagues.
His goal, which follows a brace in the French Championship last weekend, saw Lille claim their first home victory in the prestigious tournament in 15 years. It wasn’t a spectacular goal, but it required the kind of vision and composure that world-class attackers have.
After teammate Burak Yilmaz wreaked havoc in the box, David was ready when the ball unexpectedly ricocheted off his path. In a fraction of a second, he placed it on his left foot and scored the goal.
“I love it,” said the former midfielder turned striker. But the most important thing is to win. If my goals and my work help the team, I’m happy. I’m in good shape, but it’s still a collective effort, because my teammates put me in the best position to finish the actions. ”
The stars of Paris Saint-Germain, along with Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, are making headlines in France, but David is proving to be a big attraction, too, with this kind of success.
David is the French Championship’s top scorer with 10 goals – representing more than half of Lille’s total – ahead of Saturday’s game against Nantes.
Lille were too irregular in the defense of their league title to be able to question the supremacy of PSG. PSG, which will travel to Saint-Étienne on Sunday, have 11 points ahead of second in the standings, Nice.
When he arrived in Lille, David was not ready to play in the very defensive French championship. He didn’t know anyone on the team other than Timothy Weah and was overweight.
Replacing Victor Osimhen, who is gone, proved too difficult at the start as David failed to score in his first 13 games in all competitions. The striker pays tribute to former Lille coach Christophe Galtier for giving him the “killer instinct” that has helped him thrive in a central striker role alongside Yilmaz.
“A striker has to score in every game. When I first arrived, I didn’t have this killer mentality. The coach has talked to me a lot about this. He helped me by making me play, by telling me that he had confidence in me, that I was doing the right things and that they would pay off, ”David told the French newspaper L’Équipe.
David, who was born in New York and moved to Port-au-Prince, Haiti when he was three months old, was 6 when his family moved to Ottawa. He made his international debut in 2018 and is now a key part of the national squad as they try to qualify for their first World Cup since 1986.
“It’s an absolute gift,” said Canada coach John Herdman. What I love about Jonathan is the fact that he’s so down to earth. I call him the Ice Man. He’s not the type to get carried away and I think that’s what will make the difference for him. ”