According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United are monitoring Canada and Genk star Jonathan David. The 20-year-old has impressed this season in Belgium and has attracted interest from a whole host of clubs across Europe.
David’s defining trait as a player is his versatility – he can play at attacking midfield, striker and on the wing. He’s had a pretty impressive season this year in Belgium scoring 22 goals and 10 assists in his 37 appearances across all competitions.
Reportedly, Manchester United aren’t the only Premier League team interested in signing the youngster. Arsenal and Everton have also both registered an interest in David, and the players agent says that David is ready to move on to the next stage of his career.
Is he ready for the big time at Manchester United?
“Without a doubt: Jonathan is ready for the next step,” said David’s agent Nick Mavromaras. “Gent has boosted his career, the club did a lot for him. I understand that they would like to keep him longer, but Jonathan wants to go ahead.
“The Belgian league is fantastic for young players, but the moment for the next step arrives and this will come in the summer.”
Apparently, the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Olympique Lyonnais are also interested in acquiring the Canadian, so he has no shortage of suitors and will surely make his move this summer.
The player’s agent made his point that, while David wants to reach the top of the game, it’s all about timing.
“His final target is to play for one of the five best clubs in the world,” he added. “But for now, we have to stay humble. The next step in his career can’t be too big.”
He then went on to say that a move to a club such as Arsenal is possibly just a little bit too big of a step up at this stage in his career.
“For example, Arsenal. There we speak about the top five in the Premier League.
“The next step has to be an intelligent one. There, this would possibly be a step too big at the moment. The whole package has to be right. An intermediate step can be better sometimes.”
A little bit of background about Jonathan David
David was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 14th 2000. His parents, both of whom are Haitian, uprooted and moved the family to the Haitian town of Port-Au-Prince when David was just three months old.
At six, David and his parents moved back to North America, to Canada, where they would settle in Ottawa. He has said that despite his allegiances to North America, he never had any ambition to play football at a professional level in either Canada or the USA – adding that he never even watched North American pro football.
Instead, he always had his sights set on a move to Europe to come and play football here – a dream which he achieved in 2018 when he moved from Ottawa Internationals to Gent.
Since then, he has made 80 appearances for the Belgian outfit, nabbing 36 goals and 15 assists in that time. He has also made appearances for the Canadian national team at youth levels and senior level. In his 12 appearances for Canada, he has a mighty impressive 11 goals and even won the Golden Boot at the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Where would he fit at Manchester United?
Manchester United have just shelled out a whopping figure for an attacking midfielder in Bruno Fernandes, so if he was to join up he’d struggle to get into the team – at least in his natural position.
As mentioned at the top, he can play out wide or even through the middle as a striker so would offer Ole Gunnar Solksjaer an alternative to the likes of Dan James and Marcus Rashford.
He’d be a very decent option for United if they were to make this move during the summer. However, if David is looking to try and secure plenty of game time, this might not be the move for him. He may be better off looking at slightly smaller team.
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