Lille striker Jonathan David has confirmed he will leave the club as a free agent this summer. David has been linked with a move to Newcastle United this summer, but they will face stiff competition for his signature.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00So, there's been some big news from Europe today, with news that Jonathan David, the
00:06Lille striker, is going to leave Lille at the end of the season on a free transfer.
00:10Now, it was a move that everyone expected to happen, he dropped hints over the last
00:14few months that he was going to leave the club, but of course, until the player or the
00:18club announced it themselves, you know, it is just speculation, but he has announced
00:22today on Instagram that he's going to leave Lille at the end of the season as a free agent.
00:26Now, Newcastle United will, of course, be interested in him, he is someone who scored
00:31goals, who has scored a lot of goals in France, he's helped Lille to a league title, for example,
00:36has scored goals in the Champions League, and at an international level for Canada, so
00:41he's a proven goalscorer, and of course, Newcastle United are going to be interested in him, but
00:44yeah, this is where the problems lie, I think, for Newcastle, they're two-fold, really.
00:48First of all, the competition, Newcastle won't be the only team interested in him, there's
00:52plenty of teams in the Premier League, even just in the Premier League, looking for strikers,
00:55as we all know, Chelsea are looking for one, Manchester United, Liverpool, so, you know,
01:00there's, even if you just take the English teams that they're going to probably compete
01:02with, it's going to be a struggle for them to convince him to join, and then you've got
01:06the other factor, which, of course, is Alexander Izak.
01:09Now, there's no sight in Alexander Izak, he is, of course, for my money, the best striker
01:13in the Premier League, and certainly won the best in world football, but any player coming
01:17to St James' Park this summer to play, you know, up front, knows that in Eddie Howe's
01:23current 4-3-3 formation, is he going to be first-choice striker?
01:26It's very unlikely, Izak has got that berth.
01:28Now, with Europe next year, there's going to be, hopefully, at least eight Champions League
01:33games, but to play, you know, there's going to be lots of potential for games in Europe
01:38and in cup competitions, so strikers who come certainly won't be sat on the bench behind
01:42Izak in every single game, but it's whether you can convince them type of players like
01:47David to join, even if they're going to be a second-choice striker, that's where the
01:53problems will lie for Newcastle, I think they could use Sven Botman, of course, to convince
01:56them to join, now, Sven Botman played alongside David at Lille when they won League 1, League
02:011, League 1, but of course, whether that's going to be enough to convince them, I'm not
02:05sure, but it's big news from the continent, and as I said, Newcastle will certainly have
02:09eyes on developments over there, on that, Paul Mitchell, of course, heading into his
02:14first summer, or full summer as Sporting Director, so it'll be interesting to see how
02:18Newcastle kick off the window, which, of course, opens on June 1st, it's very weird, this
02:23summer window, it opens for 10 days, until June 10th, then it shuts for 6 days, and then
02:26it will open from June 16th, right up until September 1st, now, news again today broke
02:31that the Premier League will shut the transfer window at 7pm on Monday 1st September, rather
02:36than the 11pm deadline, that's to help club staff with a bit more of a working balance,
02:41but that, you know, that's a big, I say big move, you know, four hours is not much when
02:46you've got all summer to do it, but, you know, it's going to be a little bit different for
02:49us as reporters, for the clubs, it's something they'll have to consider, but yeah, Jonathan
02:52David's going to leave Lille this summer, and Newcastle United will, of course, be interesting,
02:57and as I've said, the best way to stay up and do it with all the latest Newcastle United
03:00transfer news this summer is with the Shield set.