Jonathan David to JUVENTUS!? How will CanMNT 🇨🇦 star fit in Serie A? 🇮🇹 | OS DIRECT ⤴️

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One of the biggest CanMNT transfer sagas has finally come to an end, as Jonathan David has signed with Juventus, joining the Italian giants on a five-year deal Friday. 

Jonathan David è un nuovo giocatore della Juventus 🇨🇦

Benvenuto in ⚪️⚫️!

— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) July 4, 2025

Following years of speculation about what his next step might be after he left Ligue 1 side Lille OSC, with suitors that have included the likes of Atlético Madrid, Aston Villa, Inter Milan, Napoli and Tottenham Hotspur in recent months, David has decided to move to Italy, where he’ll become the latest in a long line of top strikers to play in Serie A. 

Not only that, but he’s joining a historical giant, too, one who isn’t just one of the biggest clubs in Italy, but one of the biggest teams in the world, period. Having won the Italian league a record 36 times (16 ahead of second-place Inter Milan’s 20), there’s no doubting Juventus’s credentials as a top team, which also include two Champions League, three Europa League and 15 Coppa Italia crowns. 

Because of that, it’s fascinating to see David join a club of this stature, as it hasn’t been often that we’ve seen CanMNT players at a top 15 club like this. In recent years, the lone players to play at a similar level have been Alphonso Davies with Bayern Munich and Tajon Buchanan with Inter Milan; between the two, Davies is the only Canadian to contribute regularly and thrive at this elite level, with Buchanan’s time at the Italian giants flaming out due to injury and bad timing. 

Now, David will look to join Davies as a Canadian regularly contributing for a fellow European giant, as he’s certainly shown over the last few years that he’s ready to make a step like this. 

With that in mind, here’s what to expect from David as he makes this big move. 

Is David ready for this move?

To begin, as mentioned above, it’s important to note that David isn’t just ready for this move, but is arguably overdue for a transfer of this stature. 

His numbers speak for themselves, as he leaves Lille having scored 109 goals and added 30 assists in 232 appearances for the club, while winning a Ligue 1 title in 2020-2021, doing well to justify the club record transfer fee they paid for him to acquire his services from Gent in the summer of 2020. 

After arriving in France with an impressive but limited record in the Belgian league, where he’d scored 37 goals and had 15 assists in 83 appearances, he’s since blossomed into one of the top strikers in Europe, finding a way to improve in each season he played with Lille. 

He started a bit slowly in France, scoring 13 times in that Ligue 1 winning 2020-2021 campaign, but then had 19 goals in 2021-2022 (with 15 in Ligue 1 and three in the Champions League), 26 goals in 2022-2023 (including 24 in Ligue 1), 26 goals in 2023-2024 (with 19 goals in Ligue 1) and 25 goals in 2024-2025 (with 16 goals in Ligue 1 and nine in the Champions League). 

As seen with those numbers, he’s been quite consistent, especially in league play - he’s one of just six players who have scored 13 or more league goals in five different top-five league seasons since 2020, joining Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Robert Lewandowski and Mo Salah on a pretty impressive list of top attackers. Not only that, but his 24-goal season in 2022-2023 is also worth shouting out, too, as he’s one of just 22 strikers to have scored 24 or more goals in a league season since 2020, also sitting on an elite list of strikers there. 

Yet, despite his impressive numbers across the last five years, this 2024-2025 season was probably the first where David’s output put him among the best in the world at the striker position. 

From questions about the quality of Ligue 1 to the notion that David inflated his goal total with penalties, there was a prevailing sentiment that David wasn’t among the best in the world at his position quite yet until this past season - at least, it felt like that way when seeing that David was unable to earn a move to a bigger club despite there being constant rumours and him maintaining his consistently strong output. 

Because of that, this 2024-2025 season was huge for David, given that his contract was expiring. All of a sudden, the summer of 2025 was going to remove potential prohibitive barriers that might’ve led teams to hesitate to sign him in the past, such as a transfer fee or a lack of confidence in his ability to play at the highest level - essentially, his play in 2024-2025 was going to dictate where he’d end up. 

Safe to say, he stepped up to the plate, and then some. His league season ended up being decent - his 16-goal, five-assist haul was his third-highest goal tally but highest assist tally in a Ligue 1 season - but his year was defined by what he did on the biggest stages, and more specifically, on the Champions League stage. 

Having qualified for the Champions League for just the second time since he was at the club, he did well to build on his first steps into that competition, which saw him score three goals in eight appearances in 2021-2022. This time, in 2024-2025, he was electric, scoring nine goals and adding four assists last season, including markers against Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and none other than his future club, Juventus. 

No stopping Jonathan David! 🔥🇨🇦

🖥 Watch the UEFA Champions League live on https://t.co/6e0eQThQd3#LOSCJUVE #UCL pic.twitter.com/EEE7Xzx4G6

— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) November 5, 2024

Along with a goal he scored in Ligue 1 play against eventual Champions League winners PSG, David did well to quell the doubts that he could not deliver on the biggest of stages in 2024-2025, catching the eyes of many suitors along the way. 

Yet, that’s why this move is so fascinating for David. For a while, many have wanted him to move because he’s had the potential to play at a higher level, but this year saw him show what that next level could look like for him, doing so while leading a Lille team that lacks the star power of the club he’s about to join. 

Because of that, it feels like he’s taking this next step at a perfect time. Often, players have to rush transfers because of the short-term nature of this sport, where opportunity windows can quickly change, but David’s contract situation has ended up playing out in a perfect parallel that lined up with his development as a player, allowing him to make a transformative move at a time where he’s old enough to be hitting his prime but young enough to still have plenty of room for growth as a player. 

For example, there’s a reality in which he develops at Juventus over the next couple of seasons and still has a bigger move in his future, as it’s not been uncommon to see strikers hit their primes in their late 20s and early 30s, so David is far from developing at 25.

Here's David's numbers from Ligue 1 and UCL play in the past 365 days - as seen here, his attacking numbers mostly place him in the top 30% of other strikers in the top 5 leagues, while his passing numbers have him closer to the top 20% (FBref). 

What to expect at his new club?

Speaking of Juventus, however, it’s important to look at what this move means for him and what it can do for him in the here and now. 

No doubt, as seen above, he’s joining a massive club - their squad value is among the top 15 teams in the world (per Transfermarkt), while Forbes has them as the 11th most valuable team in the world right now. What that shows is that Juventus are a heavyweight club that are in the same class as the Barcelonas, Real Madrids, Bayern Munichs, Manchester Citys, Liverpools, Arsenals and PSGs of the world - this is a true giant. 

At the same time, he joins the club at an interesting moment. For all of the success they’ve had as the most decorated side in Italian football history, Juventus have experienced a rough patch over the past five years, as their last Serie A title came in 2019-2020, as they’ve otherwise won just three trophies since the start of the 2020-2021 season - two Coppa Italias and one Supercoppa Italia. 

For a club of this stature, that isn’t just a slump, but is an inexcusable run of form, which shows that there will be pressure on David and his new teammates to fire Juventus back to a 37th Scudetto and some other silverware as soon as possible. 

From there, Juventus have another big goal, which is to win the Champions League once again, snapping their three-decade drought. Having last won that trophy in 1996, it’ll be a big ask for them to do that right away, but they’d like to see incremental progress going forward. 

Given that they haven’t reached the quarter-finals of that competition since 2018-2019, after reaching the final in 2014-2015 and 2016-2017, they’d at least hope to start reaching the business end of that tournament with more regularity - from there, they can start focus on reaching a final and perhaps even winning it. 

This club still has a ways to go to get there, as they’ve fallen a bit from their perch among Europe’s elite - their early elimination from the 2024-2025 Champions League to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in the knockout phase playoffs was a big blow, as was falling to Real Madrid in the Round 16 of this summer’s Club World Cup - so look for them to get off to a strong start to their 2025-2026 Champions League campaign. 

No doubt, however, that there will be massive pressure on them to perform this year, pressure of which David likely hasn’t even come close to seeing from his time at Lille - but that shouldn’t bother the player they call the “Iceman”, who likely sought a move like this knowing what those expectations could do for him. 

As the saying goes, pressure makes diamonds, and David will be banking on the fact that this step up in expectations will only push him to another level - for the most part, he’s so far handled situations like this with ease in his young career. 

Where does he fit at Juventus?

Speaking of 2025-2026, however, that leads to the next, and probably most important question of them all, when looking at David’s move to Juventus - how does he fit into this team?

On paper, however, the answer appears to be pretty seamless. He joins the club at a good time, as his new manager, Igor Tudor, was only hired in March, so look for the former Juventus midfielder to build a bit of stability going forward, given that he’s already the fifth manager the club has had this decade after having just two between 2011 and 2019. 

Since arriving, however, Tudor wasted no time in putting his stamp on the team, switching from Thiago Motta’s possession-based and fluid 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-2-1, one where he wants his team to attack directly and aggressively. 

That’s good news for David, as he’ll be familiar with a direct and aggressive attacking approach with the CanMNT, given that’s head coach Jesse Marsch’s philosophy, but it’s worth noting that he’s played in a couple of different styles at Lille. 

With Tudor, however, there is room for David to thrive, as he could play anywhere in the front three of the 3-4-2-1, given that he has experience leading the line, but has also proven that he can play as a #10 under Marsch with Canada. 

For now, it’s expected that David leads the line, as was reported by TSN's Matthew Scianitti, but given that the club has continued to be linked to strikers such as Victor Osimhen and Mateo Retegui despite David's signing, David could also be asked to play underneath a #9 in a hybrid #10, second striker role - he could end up filling multiple roles to help spark this Juventus attack. 

GOAL 🇨🇦🇨🇦

TAJON TO J. DAVID AGAIN 🤯

Buchanan's ice-cold first touch sets up a cross for an even colder glancing header by Jonathan David and the #CanMNT go up 2-0 over Ukraine 🇺🇦

🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer & TSN pic.twitter.com/9sNH2Y4NAy

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 7, 2025

There’s a reason why Marsch has called David the “smartest player he’s ever coached”, however, as his intelligence is his best attribute, allowing him to thrive in different systems and positions under different managers - that’s expected to continue in Italy. In particular, that makes it exciting that he’s joining what is regarded as one of the most tactical leagues in Europe, as he’s also playing in a circuit where his intelligence has the potential to make him a standout player. 

Just look at some of his numbers from the last 365 days, as he's in the top 30 percent among all strikers in the top 5 European leagues in goals per 90 with 0.41 (63rd percentile), assists per 90 with 0.19 (72nd percentile), goals+assists per 90 with 0.82 (85th percentile), expected goals per 90 with 0.57 (80th percentile) expected assists per 90 with 0.16 (76th percentile), and non-penalty xG+xA per 90 with 0.53 (61st percentile). His non-penalty xG per 90 isn't as strong, sitting at 0.37, but these numbers are otherwise exceptional given that they came on a Lille team that scored the seventh-most goals in Ligue 1. 

To that last point, when you look at his comparable peers on FBRef, Julián Álvarez, Marcus Thuram, Harry Kane, and Vinicius Júnior are four of his 10 closest statistical peers over that span, which puts his numbers in a better context. 

Yet, returning to Osimhen and Retegui, that Juventus has remained linked to them despite David’s arrival is a reminder of the reality at a club like this - they often want to be deep as possible at every position, meaning it’s not uncommon to see teams build competition for places, especially in the attack. 

Certainly, there’s already that depth in place, which is clear when looking at Juventus’s current squad. At the striker position, Dušan Vlahović and Arkadiusz Milik are still at the club, while Randal Kolo Muani’s loan is just expiring - and that’s without looking at those aforementioned links with new strikers. Meanwhile, in terms of the #10s, Francisco Conceição, Kenan Yildiz, and Teun Koopmeiners are all options, as is Nico González, among others (and more players also continue to be linked to Juventus at that position, such as Jadon Sancho), so David’s got good competition at both spots. 

Granted, there’s expected to be some movement to clear some names out to open up space for new names, as Vlahović continues to be linked with a move elsewhere, so the path should be there for David to slot in and earn a starting role on day #1 - it’ll just be up to him to keep that place in a deep team. 

For what it’s worth, though, this Juventus team is itching for more offence in 2025-2026, as the 58 goals they scored in Serie A last season placed them seventh in Serie A, and they scored just 12 times in 10 Champions League games.

As a result, Vlahović’s 17 goals in all competitions marked the best tally on their squad, with Yildiz’s 12 goals and Kolo Muani’s 10 goals the next best tallies (and they were the only other players to hit double digits) - safe to say that Juventus would love nothing more than for David to translate his Ligue 1 and UCL numbers over to his new club, which might buy him a bit of an adaptation period that might not otherwise be available for players joining a club of this stature.

Here are David's numbers from the last 365 days compared to Vlahović's and Kolo Muani's over that same span. As seen here, David's passing and chance creation numbers are quite strong, as well as his finishing. Because of that, his goal at Juventus will be to create more non-penalty xG, as otherwise he profiles nicely in this Juventus team (FBref). 

What does this mean for David’s CanMNT future?

Of course, Canadians will now be watching his attempts to take this next step quite closely, as they’ll want him to be in as best form as he can be ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which added another layer to this move - he had to make a decision that also kept his CanMNT future in mind. 

Given his stature as the CanMNT’s all-time top scorer, one who has scored 10 goals and added four assists in 21 games since Marsch’s arrival, it’s important he stays in top form, as he’s arguably this Canadian team’s most important player, especially with how good he’s been over the past 12 months. 

GOAL 🇨🇦

The #CanMNT find their breakthrough! Jonathan David makes up for his missed penalty with a tidy finish to open the scoring 🎯

🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/FJgYQRvOTG

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 25, 2025

Yet, when looking at this Juventus move, it appears that he’s found exactly what most Canadians were hoping for him to find when leaving Lille - a top 15 club where there’s room for him to slot in and play a prominent role right off the bat. 

Now, the goal for David will be to hit the ground running, proving why Juventus made this signing. He does that, and he can further show why he’s not just one of the best forwards in the world right now, but one of the best players, period, one who could play at this level for at least the next half-decade, if not much more. 

After years of wondering when David might take that next step, it’s finally right here in front of him, and it’ll be up to him to make the most of the opportunity and showcase the world-class potential he’s already started to channel on a more regular basis over the last couple of years. 

He does that, and not only will it further cement his rapidly growing legacy, but also open further doors for other Canadians, too, showing why this move is such a transformative one not just for him, but Canadian soccer at large, as well.