Jonathan David

[Kadenge]

On 12/21/2020 at 4:16 PM, Kadenge said:

While I agree the defending is better in Ligue 1, thats not why David is not scoring. He should have at least 6 goals (vs 2) and probably more. He shanked 2 over the crossbar from close range, hit a post and missed a penalty. The David at Ghent would have put those away and we would be feeling a lot better notwithstanding  he is still not getting service from his teamates.  In all games, I can recall 2 good interceptions by defenders that probably negated a certain or a good opportunity at goal, but that's it. Its normal for fans to look for goals from their striker who set a Lille transfer record but David is playing well, running smart routes, creating space for his teamates, making good passes, holding the ball up well, pressing effectively and getting into goal scoring positions. The goals will come. He won the golden boot at GC 2019 (over a pretty good striker from Wolves), was the joint leading scorer in Belgium last season despite missing games due to the death of his mother. He has scored in Europa vs Roma.... Its not a coincidence.  Some players need a period of adjustment when they move leagues. He will get back his clinical finishing.  David's vision and soccer IQ is very high and as @hodgkisshas stated he is adapting his game. I think we will see the old David in the New Year. Did I mention he is only 20?

Now that the season is over I wanted to repost the above. I know many of us who followed David closely at Gent and early on at Lille had the same sentiments that David would settle down and be the player he is...and he delivered in spades.  Could'nt be happier for him.

[narduch]

Galtier out as manager. Now confirmed.

[Watchmen]

I don't have an answer on this, but with only 1 season of Ligue 1 football and a slow start to it, but an excellent 2nd half, do we think Lille would recoup the $30m on David's purchase? Again, we're in a depressed market this year, and they maybe paid a premium for him last year. I could see them holding on to him to see how much better he could be now that he's settled.

[Acid-Tone]

It will definitely be interesting to see what this team looks like when they get back together in the fall.

They'll have a new manager and who knows how many new faces.  With their reported financial troubles, I could see them striking while the iron is hot and selling some of the higher profile players, including David.   

[Unnamed Trialist]

Maignan is negotiating with Milan today, as Donnarumma has not re-signed and is rumoured to be on the move .

I read today 15 million plus incentives for Maignan, seems a bit low but keepers do not tend to go high. 

They'll need to move 2-3 more players. 

BTW I think David should most definitely stay at Lille. He's young, he is catching on to the level, they may not win a league next season but he'll score. The coach will change and they just have to play a more favourable style. Then he gets 6 Champions League matches at least and with the first Ligue I coefficient, meaning their group just may be accessible. All for it.

[El Diego]

If I'm Lille I'm looking to move on from Karnezis, Sanches, Ikone, Pied, one of Xeka/Soumare, and maybe Burak (due to age and wages). Guys like Lihadji and Gomes can come in and play significant roles. Not sure what the other out on loan guys are like.

ETA: I mean if finances dictate, of course

[frmr]

I think David stays. If he can bag 20+ goals next season, which depending on the team and new coach is not out of the realm of possibility, Lille can definitely cash in on him after next season. The second half of the season he's definitely shown that he can play at this level, but he wasn't exactly a "star" if you consider his first half of the campaign. He's still developing and another year of experience in a top 5 league will allow him to continue developing without having to be the complete finished article that he would need to be at a top club in England. If he can play like he did against Anger for a whole season, I think a move to a top ten club in the world could be on the cards the following year. It's not without risk though, a new coach/system/team could also not work out in his favour.

[dyslexic nam]

I am find with Favid staying at Lille next season. My only concern is if they sell a few key players without investing, the Champions league may be rough.  Valuable games regardless but I could see them getting backed around pretty good in the group stage.   

[Gian-Luca]

9 hours ago, An Observer said:

He definitely showed patience with him. Although I am not sure how much his “improvement” was down to him or his manager per se. Plus, for those that watch him day in day out, you could say that the manager did not / has not set up the side to get the best out of their record signing. But you can see how a journalist can make such a conclusion based simply on the numbers in the first half versus second half and the aforesaid fact he showed patience. I do wonder how much patience he would have shown if they weren’t winning though. 

Where I would disagree with that Guardian writer is that the performance of David in the 2nd half was "miraculous". I think it is pretty easy to explain as a combination of David not having been shape or sharp having been not playing for 5 months prior to the Ligue 1 season (which any journalist covering the league should know about as even David publicly admitted this after the goals started to go in) and his teammates not passing him the ball like they did in the 2nd half in part because he hadn't gained their confidence yet (the other part of it is that some of his teammates were and are selfish ball hogs but since that factor didn't really change in the 2021 part of the season, its' difficult to put that down as a factor which caused the success in 2021).

[Kadenge]

It's interesting that as David regained his scoring touch in 2021 the production of Bamba, Ikone and Yazici dropped off.  Yilmaz and David  ended up having some great chemistry. If Lille can keep its core then David would benefit by staying. Sadly I don't think that's going to happen. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

58 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

It's interesting that as David regained his scoring touch in 2021 the production of Bamba, Ikone and Yazici dropped off.  Yilmaz and David  ended up having some great chemistry. If Lille can keep its core then David would benefit by staying. Sadly I don't think that's going to happen. 

I think Lille will keep a core. You are not going to hire a new coach coming in with Champions ambitions and a yard sale going on.

As I've said, watch Soumaré, Sanches, Yazici maybe, be sold off. You keep your back line, you have other midfield options, you keep the main scorers. 

Then, closer to the end of the window, they may move someone else. 

 

[Obinna]

I can't believe I am saying this, but I think David may want to consider staying at Lille.

CL football and whole lot of changes could make for an interesting season. 

Lille will undoubtedly keep Yilmaz to partner David. You're not going to raise funds selling a 35 year old unless their name is Cristiano, and even he'd probably only generate 30-40 million at his age. They are better off keeping the Turk.

Ikone, Yazici, Soumare could fetch them 50-70 million Euro. They could probably keep Bamba (not really that young anymore) and maybe Sanches, who I don't think will fetch his maximum with the season he's had. 

[TGAA_Star]

10 hours ago, Obinna said:

I can't believe I am saying this, but I think David may want to consider staying at Lille.

CL football and whole lot of changes could make for an interesting season. 

Lille will undoubtedly keep Yilmaz to partner David. You're not going to raise funds selling a 35 year old unless their name is Cristiano, and even he'd probably only generate 30-40 million at his age. They are better off keeping the Turk.

Ikone, Yazici, Soumare could fetch them 50-70 million Euro. They could probably keep Bamba (not really that young anymore) and maybe Sanches, who I don't think will fetch his maximum with the season he's had. 

Yeah I agree David should stay at Lille period.

[narduch]

Sounds like Soumare to Leicester is pretty much done too now.

I worry this team could become mid table fodder next season 

[baulderdash77]

With some of the departures expected at Lille and the late season success I expect he’s going to stay at Lille as they start in CL.  He’s going to figure even more prominently for them this year and build a larger brand.  I think next off-season they will move him on.

[Cheeta]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

Sounds like Soumare to Leicester is pretty much done too now.

I worry this team could become mid table fodder next season 

Sanches being injured allowed the man more field time and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands.  I suspect Sourmare and Andre with a pair of very, very, pleasant surprise for Galthier. 

[TGAA_Star]

4 hours ago, baulderdash77 said:

With some of the departures expected at Lille and the late season success I expect he’s going to stay at Lille as they start in CL.  He’s going to figure even more prominently for them this year and build a larger brand.  I think next off-season they will move him on.

And if that happens then that's cool but David is fine just where he is

[Watchmen]

Inter apparently also looking to sell off after winning the title. If you've got the money, it's a buyers market this summer. 

[narduch]

17 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

Inter apparently also looking to sell off after winning the title. If you've got the money, it's a buyers market this summer. 

They lost their manager too after winning a title.

[masster]

For those that weren't following the scenario closely, nice video on the history of Lille, how they got to this championship, and where they go from here.

 

[BrennanFan]

This twitter account is well connected in the Canadian soccer landscape.  Here they pass along something from the website todofichajes.com

"Real Madrid monitors Jonathan David and may try to sign the Canadian if they don't get Mbappé."

A Canadian "linked" to Real Madrid.  I believe this a first.

[Club Linesman]

Wow. Even if you don’t believe it, you can’t believe it! We need to get through to the Octagon and allow these players to start shining on the North American and then world stage!

[dyslexic nam]

25 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

This twitter account is well connected in the Canadian soccer landscape.  Here they pass along something from the website todofichajes.com

"Real Madrid monitors Jonathan David and may try to sign the Canadian if they don't get Mbappé."

A Canadian "linked" to Real Madrid.  I believe this a first.

I don’t know how I feel about this.  

- no disrespect to David, but this seems fairly unlikely (at least in terms  of any sort of immediate impact)   

- if it was true, it would be crazy for Canadian footy to have him go there.   

- going there might mean pretty limited minutes for a while.  Madrid is not know for their patience with slow starters

- I love JD but this would be a massive leap for a guy that still needs to work on some pretty specific things

- setting aside the fact that he might be a sub/squad player for a while (and the impact this could have on the Nats), this would be a comparable opportunity to Davies at Bayern - and that turned out fairly well for all parties.  

- David has been really strategic about his moves and they have all turned out well despite the obvious hiccup at the start of this season.  But if he saw this as maybe a step to far, could he resist the lure (and cash) of one of the very biggest clubs in the world.  
 

Damn.  

[Dr.Dre]

Apparently, Soumare is going to Leicester.

[BrennanFan]

33 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

This twitter account is well connected in the Canadian soccer landscape.  Here they pass along something from the website todofichajes.com

"Real Madrid monitors Jonathan David and may try to sign the Canadian if they don't get Mbappé."

A Canadian "linked" to Real Madrid.  I believe this a first.

https://www.foot01.com/equipe/lille/esp-kounde-et-jonathan-david-le-real-madrid-en-feu,378527?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Same Real Madrid rumour.