Premier League sides Man United and Chelsea have been linked with Lille forward Jonathan David and according to VoetbalKrant, the two sides are already willing to open talks for a summer move.
David is a Gent academy product and he joined Lille back in 2020. Since then, the Canadian international has featured in 165 games for the French club, scoring 71 and assisting 15 goals. He’s also netted 26 goals in 45 caps for Canada.
His contract with Lille expires in 2025 and the Ligue 1 side are ready to cash in on him but they are demanding €60 million for the 24-year-old which is a bit of a question mark.
Both Chelsea and Man United are looking to bring in a new centre-forward next summer so it’s hardly a surprise that they have registered a concrete interest in David.
Chelsea will cash in on Romelu Lukaku and Armando Broja while Man United are expected to show Anthony Martial the door.
The two English clubs will be ready to spend money during the summer window but paying €60 million for Jonathan David makes little to no sense. Last season, he scored 24 league goals in 37 appearances but this campaign, he’s netted just eight in 20 Ligue 1 games.
At Chelsea, he will fight with Nicolas Jackson and probably Victor Osimhen for starts while at Old Trafford, David will be the backup to Rasmus Hojlund and we doubt if paying €60 million on a second-choice striker makes sense.
He has just over a year left on his current contract so Lille should be ready to negotiate and if the two EPL sides can bring down the asking price to around €45-50 million, Jonathan David will be a very reasonable signing.
It remains to be seen if David is willing to play backup at Man United or Chelsea but moving to English will definitely be a step up for the 24-year-old.
These are obviously early days and David isn’t the only centre-forward that Man United or Chelsea are looking at and if Lille don’t lower their demands, we doubt if either of the two sides will be interested in bringing him on board.
