Jonathan David

[Floortom]

His first goal was an absolutely fantastic header. What a goal scoring touch he has 

https://streamable.com/ber0e

Edited September 1, 2019 by Floortom

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

31 minutes ago, Floortom said:

His first goal was an absolutely fantastic header. What a goal scoring touch he has

https://www.proximus-sports.be/nl/voetbal/jupiler-pro-league/video/24795/samenvatting-kaa-gent-cercle-brugge

The second took a deflection but nice contact as well.

[Ivan]

Great run before the layoff for the assist on the first goal as well.

[Snowcrash]

The pace he showed on the first Gent goal was impressive. Equally impressive was his speed of thought. As soon as the defender broke towards him, he laid it off to Delpoitrefor the goal.

[Reign]

That header. Wow

[costarg]

Just checked the stats.....  11 appearances, 6 goals and 4 assists. 19 years old.  And then the highlight reals, i'm at a loss for words.  Just wow, i guess.

  

[king1010]

59 minutes ago, costarg said:

Just checked the stats.....  11 appearances, 6 goals and 4 assists. 19 years old.  And then the highlight reals, i'm at a loss for words.  Just wow, i guess.

  

His transfer value just keeps going up. Surely Gent will look to cash in at the end of the season, if not sooner. 

 

[Snowcrash]

Found the following article by a Belgian sports writer courtesy of Google translate:

Jonathan David in his new role on the 10 as well as Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappé sámen 
The golden move of Thorup
Quiz question: who has scored the most since 10 May: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Cristiano Ronaldo or Jonathan David? Yes, but the answer is even more impressive, because the Haitian-Canadian wonder boy from AA Gent scored the same as Messi (6 goals), Mbappé (6) and Ronaldo (4) together in that period: 16 goals in 18 matches . Coach Jess Thorup's decision to play the goal machine as number ten turned out to be a golden move. 
MICHAËL VAN DAMME

Since his two hits in the Play-off 1-match Standard-AA Ghent (2-3) on 10 May, Jonathan David has not stopped scoring. Four goals in the last three games of Play-off 1, with which he gave AA Gent a 9 out of 9 and fifth place. Afterwards six goals with Canada, with which he became top scorer of the Gold Cup. And now six goals at the start of the season, including four in the league. 

When David returned as top scorer from the Gold Cup - where he played as right winger - many people, including the undersigned, thought: you should play that boy as a second striker. With his bipedalism and calmness for purpose, he would be a guarantee of goals in that role.

But AA Gent coach Jess Thorup saw it differently. He grabbed back to the diamond in midfield with which he garnered success in the last straight line of Play-off 1 and placed David in a (relatively) free role in ten. In his first three games of the season, David was less likely to be in a promising position and did not score either. But in no time he adjusted: he learned to make better use of his freedom.

Thorup looked beyond his nose. Yes, David has torinstincts, but so much more. All these qualities are expressed in a free role with three midfielders behind them. Walking capacity for example. David is invariably the Ghent player with the most running kilometers. And power and overview. You could see all those qualities in the rush with which he set off Laurent Depoitre on Sunday for the opening goal against Cercle Brugge. As a second striker, his running volume, football ability, overview and strength would be less apparent. 

Finally a man of 20 million? 

Thorup is also particularly satisfied with David's defensive work and his tireless pressure. And in addition to his six goals, he is already at the start of four assists this season.

When we brought the news that AA Gent had refused a bid of 6 million euros from Freiburg last summer, AA Gent's general manager Michel Louwagie laughed: "That's right, but we also rejected a much higher bid." 

It is clear: AA Ghent expects absolutely double digits for David. Moses Simon may not have become "the man of 20 million", but David can make a new roll with David. In the Arteveldestad the discussion rages who is the greatest talent: (the injured) Giorgi Chakvetadze or Jonathan David. Speaking of wealth.

David is barely nineteen and you might wonder if he doesn't take too much hay. Since the beginning of last season - thirteen months - he played 62 (!) Matches for club and country. For the time being he seems to be able to digest this effortlessly, although he was left out of a number of matches in September-October last year in the transition period between Vanderhaeghe and Thorup. 

This season David played in all eleven games, although he didn't always play ninety minutes. Thanks to Thorup's golden move, he turned out to be the 'golden boy' of the golden diamond in Ghent's midfield.

[king1010]

Interesting article, if he did fetch $20M euros that would make him our most expensive transfer beating out Davies at $18.75M. 

[Bertuzzi44]

Also interesting:

Quote

AA Gent had refused a bid of 6 million euros from Freiburg last summer, AA Gent's general manager Michel Louwagie laughed: "That's right, but we also rejected a much higher bid." 

So Freiburg made on offer for him, and I wonder who else? 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

14 minutes ago, Bertuzzi44 said:

So Freiburg made on offer for him, and I wonder who else? 

The rumours at the beginning of the year were  Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Hoffenheim. 

http://www.voetbalnieuws.be/news/376749/exclusief-vijf-clubs-uit-de-bundesliga-azen-op-jonathan-david

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

50 minutes ago, Bertuzzi44 said:

So Freiburg made on offer for him, and I wonder who else? 

The real question: when he signed that new contract after scoring all those goals in a row as a super sub after making his debut, how much did they sign him for?

[Snowcrash]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The real question: when he signed that new contract after scoring all those goals in a row as a super sub after making his debut, how much did they sign him for?

From GLOBAL SPORTS SALARIES SURVEY 2018 https://globalsportssalaries.com/GSSS 2018.pdf

These are a sample of first team salaries.   David was signed to a contract extension in August 2018.  Despite his impressive Euro League goal scoring run and early season league scoring, he wasn't starting regularly.  Also, given his relatively unremarkable soccer pedigree up to that time, I'm guessing his 4-year extension probably started at around 250K euros.  An absolute steal, in retrospect.

ENGLAND €3,379,520

GERMANY  €1,578,130

BELGIUM  €346,043 

MEXICO €345,721 

CANADA  MLS  €446,472

USA  MLS €303,147 

SCOTLAND  €199,147

NORWAY €74,570 

[apbsmith]

On 9/3/2019 at 1:52 PM, king1010 said:

His transfer value just keeps going up. Surely Gent will look to cash in at the end of the season, if not sooner. 

 

I think that's one of the many reasons they held onto him. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

On a transfer this season:

Barring straight up silly money I would say depends on their Europa League situation and league form.  If they make it out of the group, which is not outside the realm of possibilities, they would be silly to break up the team with that kind of exposure coming.  And also on the recovery of Chakvetadze, who was the guy playing around where David is when David first got there and the next big thing they had before David.  He has been out since spring and expected back in November.

They have also made a lot of changes (2/3 to 3/4 of their starting lineup) since their coach took over a year ago or so.  If I were a fan I would appreciate little stability, but that is not always how it works, I know. 

[PopePouri]

Made the FIFA 19 team of the week. Go update your Canada squads.

https://www.futhead.com/19/totw/totw45/

Edited September 7, 2019 by PopePouri

[Stryker911]

Very good chance that he is top 6 in our all time scorers by the end of the week.

[Snowcrash]

David's goal from start to finish.

 https://streamable.com/obtgu

[Kadenge]

That first touch was world class and he still had to beat 2 defenders and the keeper. I don't think any player on our squad can score the type of goals that David seems to do with relative ease. Even his placement of the ball that hit the post was class. Having said that, still think he is not being deployed optimally.

[Snowcrash]

At Gent, his game has made a significant jump since the manager put him as a 10 at the top of a diamond midfield for league and Europa games.  His play making and vision has been a revelation.

Edited September 8, 2019 by Snowcrash

[BrennanFan]

I think we have to play David centrally from now on. Either behind Cav or leading the line instead of Cav.

[Aird25]

He’s averaging a goal or an assist every 39 minutes for us. Let’s just make sure he’s on the pitch.

[dyslexic nam]

11 goals in 9 games.  

That is fucking nuts. 

[Macksam]

If he keeps up this form, he should get Gent at least 50 million Euros. If he gets Gent both the Jupiler League and Europa League titles, he's going to go for 80 million.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

Gent have a lot of work to do before they will be challenging beyond the group in the Europa League.  The way they play makes them quite vulnerable to better teams.  

Which leads back to how to play him.  I said before the win I would not mind seeing:

             Larin

Davies David Hoilett

 

...without Arfield there.   But then you must have your two other midfielders basically sit in the modern game against decent opposition.   

Not sure if that is our best use of our players or not.  You could certainly do it with Piette and Kay but again who do you then leave out.  Worse problems to have though.