The 22-year-old Canadian star Jonathan David, who helped Lille win the Ligue 1 title last season, has made Canada a success in the World Cup finals this year with outstanding performances, and he is now one of the hottest new stars in Europe.
Destined to excel
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Jonathan Davey returned to his hometown of Haiti with his parents at the age of 6 and later moved to Ottawa, Canada. Soon after settling in Ottawa, David began playing soccer in a small local club. In 2015, he joined Ottawa International Football Club at the age of 15, where his talent began to be discovered.
'I've always believed he has the potential to be a star. David's mentor Hanny AlMaggrabi said. "It's not surprising that he's achieved something like today, so I'm not surprised. But even so, every time I see his supernatural performance on the pitch, I still wonder if all this is true. ”
David's father also played a key role in his son's football career. 'He's still important to me now, he may not be as strict as Henry's father was with Henry and he doesn't talk to me about my goals, but he always talks to me about the opportunities I missed on the pitch.
A dreamy debut
David signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Belgian Ghent in April 2017 and officially joined the team after his 18th birthday on January 14 of the following year.
As a young Canadian who had never played professionally on the continent, David quickly made a name for himself in Europe. In August 2018, he equalised in extra time against Willshire and scored five goals in five appearances. Because of his fiery performance, Ghent extended his contract until 2022.
His performance in the national team is also remarkable. In Canada's 8-0 win over the Virgin Islands, he scored in his first appearance for Canada. In his first eight international matches, he scored a total of 10 goals, including a hat-trick against Cuba and a 3-2 loss to Haiti in the 2019 Gold Cup.
"There's no doubt that this is a special game," David told reporters before the game began. "You don't play every day against the country where you lived as a child. But I still need to go there with the mentality of playing for my country, playing for my country, and doing my best. Out of respect for Haiti, he did not celebrate his goal, which was one of the eight he scored in the Gold Cup.
Note: David advocated for attention to young Haitian players on social platforms
David hasn't forgotten where he came from, as he teamed up with a former teammate of the U.S. national soccer team to fund 300 young Haitian port-au-Prince players. "We fund the diet, education and professional football training of these young players. They now have 6 training sessions a week. There's a free meal for every training session, and sometimes it can be the only meal they have in the day. David said. My parents educated me very well, and I was lucky, but I knew that I was in the same situation as they are now. Since I am now qualified to fund them, I will do my best to help them. ”
From the trough to the state pick-up
David came to Lille in August 2020 and this time he didn't do well from the start as he did on his previous moves. 'It's hard to say about state, but even if I don't score, I've always been trying to find opportunities. David said in explaining the goal drought in 10 games in Ligue 1. He scored a total of 13 goals in his first season in Ligue 1. "Unlike then, now I'm going to take every chance."
After a 4-0 win over Lorient in the 11th round, David scored 13 goals in 27 games in 2020/21, the equivalent of a season in Lille by victory for victory for his former host, Victor Osmayne.
'David worked very hard and when I saw him I saw him he felt like he was as sharp and precise in his technique as Luis Campos (Lille's former team manager) when he introduced him to me. At the time, Lille's coach Christopher Galtier said. "We've seen him become more and more calm in the penalty area after game after game. In the beginning, his performance did not live up to our expectations and he always missed goals. But as the training progressed, he began to find the form of scoring goals. ”
His excellent performances, especially the winning goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the 31st round, helped Lille win Ligue 1.
The Iceman
The word "cold" doesn't just refer to the cold winter That David endured in Ottawa, it's also aptly used to describe the characteristics of his shots. "He's like an Iceman," Canadian coach Josh Herdman said. "He was able to slow down in the penalty area, calmly wait for the goalkeeper to move, and then seize the moment. It's the quality of a good striker. ”
As a North American player playing in Europe, balancing club and national teams has become a major problem.
"I'm still young, so going back and forth between America and Europe doesn't have much of an impact on my physical strength," David said, but he adds that it's not as easy as he says. "When I get back here, I need a week to put down jet lag. Before that, when I arrived in Europe, jet lag was hard for me. Now, the opposite is true. When I arrived in North America, I started getting tired early. I often wake up at two o'clock in the morning and then it's hard to fall asleep again. ”
Note: David retweeted reports about himself on social media
Team players
David's goal attracted attention, but he himself didn't.
"To be honest, I didn't really want to be a headliner. I'm a striker, so my job is to score goals. As you know, shooters usually receive most praise. But in my position and running, I think about how to help the team, not just make myself a hero. Of course, I also want to have good data, but that's not my starting point. ”
But don't mistake David's low-key personality for a lack of ambition. An innate drive has brought David to where he is now, and will most likely have taken him further.
"I don't pursue other people's attention, so I don't go on social media much. I'm more focused on my career, my family, my friends. But I still aspire to be one of the best strikers in the world. I work on it every day. ”