Analyzing how CanMNT forward Promise David has levelled up for Union St-Gilloise in 2025-2026
It’s been a season to remember for Promise David, who has followed up an impressive debut 2024-2025 campaign for Union St-Gilloise with an arguably better 2025-2026.
After helping his side win their first Belgian league title in 90 years, he’s done well to help them maintain their bid for a successful repeat title, doing so while navigating their first-ever season in the UEFA Champions League.
His numbers show that, too - after scoring an impressive 24 goals in 41 appearances in 24/25, he’s got 14 goals in 30 appearances so far in 25/26, including two in seven Champions League outings.
🇨🇦 | Qui d’autre que Promise David pour lancer Union SG sur la bonne voie ? 💫✅
— DAZN Belgique (@DAZN_BEFR) January 14, 2026
Regardez la #CrokyCup GRATUITEMENT sur l’app DAZN ! 📲 pic.twitter.com/1ST3dpWD8W
Otherwise, he’s also on pace to win the JPL’s Golden Boot race, as he leads the pack with nine goals in 19 games, which would be a big achievement after he finished fourth in that race last year with 17 goals - four behind eventual co-winners Adriano Bertaccini and Tolu Arokodare.
Overall, though, it’s been the sort of exact campaign you’ll have wanted to see from the 24-year-old David, who has proved that his magical 2024-2025 campaign, which was capped by a spellbinding run of eight goals in 10 playoff games to secure the league title, was no fluke.
Given that it’s come despite the departure of head coach Sébastien Pocognoli to Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, he’s proven that he can operate in different environments, too, which is encouraging to see. After all, it can’t be ignored how important a detail that is, given how important Pocognoli was to last year’s success, as some could’ve wondered if David was reliant on the manager for his success.
Because of that, it feels like David’s now primed for a big move after this World Cup, where he’ll hope to play a key role for the CanMNT. Having decided to stay put at USG despite transfer interest last summer, he needed to have the sort of season he’s having, showing why it’s been so important to see him not regress in any form this season.
Certainly, you could see the benefit of what he’s doing when seeing that he was linked to clubs like Premier League regulars West Ham just last month, with David's camp ultimately rejecting that move to finish the season on a high note with USG. Ultimately, given his profile and scoring rate, a move like that to a top-five club seems to be the floor for what’s possible for David next summer, at the very least. 
Firstly, though, he’s got some work to do with USG, as they look to defend their league title, win the Belgian Cup for the second time in three years, and stay alive in the Champions League.
Given how David finished last season, it’ll be fascinating to see what he has in store for the business end of this campaign, too, especially when considering his push for the JPL Golden Boot.
Promise David strikes again for Union Saint-Gilloise - and what a goal it was 🤩🇨🇦
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) January 17, 2026
The 24-year-old Canadian continues to lead the Jupiler Pro League scoring charts 👏#JupilerProLeague | @DAZNFootball | @ProLeagueBE | @UnionStGilloise | @CANMNT_Official | @DAZN_BEFR |… pic.twitter.com/PMvWsEQpOo
To that point, though, while David’s skills in front of goal are well-known - as you’d expect they are for someone who has scored 38 goals in 71 appearances for USG - it’s worth diving into his numbers to see if anything’s changed in his game this year.
For example, it’s worth noting that off the bat, David has been more clinical from open play so far this year - in 2024-2025, seven of his 24 goals (29%) came from the penalty spot, but in 2025-2026, just one of his 14 tallies has been from the spot, coming in the Champions League.
What that means is that he’s already just four non-penalty goals from matching his 2024-2025 output in that category, which suggests he’s been a lot more lethal than the numbers would first suggest. A striker’s best quality is the ability to score goals regularly, and non-penalty goals are a little more repeatable to produce than penalties.
🎯 | Anouar Ait El Hadj schildert hem perfect op het hoofd van Promise David. 💁♂️🎨 #USGZWA
— DAZN België (@DAZN_BENL) December 20, 2025
Kijk om 23u45 naar de hoogtepunten van de #JPL in de DAZN-app! 📲 pic.twitter.com/RZBYiiRTSW
Yet, when you peek beneath the hood, that immediately stands out when looking at some of his other numbers - David is doing the right things to generate goals regularly.
He might be scoring at a slightly slower rate, as he’s dropped from an impressive 0.8 goals per 90 to 0.75 goals per 90 this season, but his metrics are a lot more sustainable, as he’s averaging 3.58 shots, 0.77 xG and 5.44 touches in the box per 90, compared to 2.57 shots, 0.68 xG and 4.67 touches in the box in 2024-2025 (all data via WyScout). 
Here's Promise David's radar from the 2024-2025 season - as seen here, not only were his shot generation and finishing statistics, quite good, but he had good overall numbers in terms of his chance creation and defensive play (WyScout)
Considering that a lot of that 2024-2025 xG will have been inflated by penalties, it makes his 2025-2026 total look a lot more impressive, too. Typically, anything above 0.5 xG per 90 would be considered a strong season for a striker - most elite strikers hover above that range, as seen by Robert Lewandowski’s (0.79 xG), Kylian Mbappé’s (0.77 xG), Harry Kane’s (0.72 xG), Hugo Ekitiké’s (0.69 xG) and Erling Haaland’s (0.65 xG) figures from this season.
Because of that, it’s quite remarkable to see David at 0.77 xG, which is right in the range of those elite forwards, even if the number might be a bit inflated by the level of the Belgian league compared to the top five leagues, as his lack of penalties more than makes up for that. 
Here's Promise David's 2025-2026 radar - as seen here, he's been absolutely clinical when it comes to all his shooting and finishing numbers, but a lot of his overall statistics, such as his chance generation and defensive numbers (WyScout)
As seen by his improved touches in the box and shot numbers, though, a big reason for his improvement comes from the fact that he’s getting into more dangerous positions, which is exactly what you want to see from a striker. His involvement in the play hasn’t changed - he averaged 14.4 passes per game in 2024-2025, and sits at 14.09 passes per game in 2025-2026 - yet, he’s making sure that his touches are coming in clinical areas in and around the box. 
Here's Promise David's heatmap from 2024-2025 (left) and 2025-2026 (right). As seen here, he's taking a lot more touches in and around the box this season (WyScout)
Interestingly, a big reason for that is due to improvements off the ball. Not only is he averaging the same number of passes, but his dribbles have gone down from 3.22 attempts to 2.51 per 90, showing that the big reason he is generating better chances is due to movement off the ball instead of what he’s doing on it.
That’s huge, because that would suggest that his sort of performances could be a bit more sustainable at a higher level. Sometimes, strikers who earn their chances by getting on the ball and dominating defenders can struggle when moving up to higher levels, where movement off the ball is so important.
Right place, right time ✅
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) November 1, 2025
Promise David scores the last goal for Union Saint-Gilloise in a 4-1 victory over Zulte Waregem ⚽️🎯
The Canadian has 5 goals in 10 games so far in the @ProLeagueBE 👏🇨🇦@DAZNFootball | @CANMNT_Official | @DAZN_BENL | @DAZN_BEFR | #JupilerProLeague
It’s worth noting that David can still score those sorts of dominant, solo goals - he scored one of them just last week - but he’s showing an improved ability to consistently get on the end of dangerous crosses and through balls, instead of just constantly relying on his pace and strength to create opportunities in transition, which has made him harder for defenders to deal with. 
Here's Promise David's last 75 shots of the 2024-2025 season, showing his ability to generate shots (WyScout)
Just take this chance he had recently in USG’s UEFA Champions League matchup against Bayern Munich. Despite facing one of the best defences in Europe, David had this great chance to score, one that he created with his own movement off the ball - the only thing denying him from a nice goal was a fantastic save from Manuel Neuer.
WHAT A CHANCE 😲
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) January 21, 2026
Promise David makes a fantastic run behind the Bayern München backline but is denied by Manuel Neuer ❌#UCL | #CANMNT | @DAZNFootball | @CANMNT_Official | @Union
What that shows, however, is why David has taken a key stride forward this season. Before, you could get tight to him and cut off his supply of touches and crosses, and he’d sometimes struggle to get into the game.
Now, though, with his off-ball movement, all he needs is to create enough separation from a defender for a half-chance, and he can score. That’s why he’s generating a lot more xG, as he’s proving to be capable of creating at least one good chance in every game he plays, no matter the opposition and how he’s playing, which is the hallmark of a good striker.
Here's Promise David's shot map from this season, showing that he's somehow improved his ability to generate dangerous shots (WyScout)
For what it’s worth, there are some areas where David will want to grow. For example, while he doesn’t need to be as involved in possession to score, as he’s shown, he’ll probably want to be a bit more involved in USG’s play on the ball.
It’s something he’s proven capable of - he had four assists and averaged 0.51 key passes per 90 last year - so look for him to break the duck he currently has in the assists department by creating more than the 0.21 key passes per 90 he currently sits with, returning something closer to his 2024-2025 numbers.
Then, defensively, his interceptions (1.66 to 1.33) and recoveries (2.28 to 2.14) are down from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, which is something that CanMNT head coach Jesse Marsch will be keeping a close eye on, as he likes his forwards to be good defensively.
With David in a fierce battle to start up front for Canada at this summer’s World Cup, he’ll want to prove capable of holding his own in Marsch’s intense pressing set-up, especially when considering that his main competition, Tani Oluwaseyi, thrives defensively in that set-up and is also having a good season of his own in La Liga for Villarreal.
David’s proven to be a much more clinical finisher than Oluwaseyi - to be fair, his numbers have him among the best in Europe - but Oluwaseyi still generates a lot of shot volume, which helps him remain as dangerous in attack as he is solid in defence. Ultimately, Oluwaseyi’s big goal is to be more clinical in front of goal going forward.
GOAL 🇨🇦🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) November 19, 2025
PROMISE DAVID finishes a perfect low cross by Niko Sigur to give the CanMNT a 2-0 lead over Venezuela 🇻🇪
🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer & TSN pic.twitter.com/vPTRCwtpkg
Ideally, there’s a world where Marsch uses both to their strengths - Oluwaseyi coming off the bench for David late in games is a nice potential option, as is David being a supersub for Oluwaseyi - but there is a benefit to whoever earns a starting role, which will always afford a better opportunity to score the pivotal goals Canada will need to make a deep run at the World Cup.
Therefore, look for David to build off his hot start to the season over the next few months. As seen, what he’s doing is more than sustainable - he’s actually slightly underperforming his impressive xG, it must be remembered - so look for him to stay hot while showing that improvement with his playmaking and defending.
Either way, thanks to his scoring form and his improvements to his game in his off-ball movement, he’ll have the opportunity to make a big move this summer, but he’ll know that refining his game will only help his odds of making such a move, the same way it’ll help his odds of playing more for Canada at the World Cup (which will also help with a potential move).
