Chelsea are reportedly weighing up a €60 million winter swoop to sign Lille’s talented Canadian striker Jonathan David to fix “their problems in front of goal.”
According to Fichajes, Chelsea have set their sights on Canadian goal-machine Jonathan David and are lining up an offer of around €60 million to bring him to Stamford Bridge in the upcoming January transfer window. The report adds that the Blues are “confident that this amount” should be enough to lure the promising Canadian striker away from French outfit Lille.
The Blues have gotten off to an inconsistent start with the former Tottenham boss, recording four points from their opening four Premier League games. While there has been more attacking threat going forward, the West London outfit have had a familiar problem in putting the ball in the back of the net, which is becoming a major concern.
The jury is clearly out on summer signing Nicolas Jackson, who is an exciting talent but not a reliable goal threat. The forward largely impressed during pre-season, bagging two goals and three assists, but has found goals harder to come by since the start of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign.
The Senegalese have managed just one goal against relegation-threatening Luton Town and missed a slew of chances in their Saturday defeat to Nottingham Forest. The most egregious miss of all proved to be what was essentially an open net from just a few yards out after being brilliantly found by winger Raheem Sterling.
Despite their latest huge transfer spree that saw their spending cross the £1 billion mark since Todd Boehly and Clearlake took over last summer, the Blues may still need to spend big again on a proven goal-scorer in January.
Chelsea did consider signing another striker in the closing stages of the summer transfer window, but instead opted to buy versatile forward Cole Palmer in a £42.5 million deal from Manchester City.
Brentford’s Ivan Toney is one name under consideration as a potential January target. Meanwhile, Lille’s Jonathan David is another name that has turned the heads of the recruitment department at the west London outfit.
The Lille talisman was on fire last season, scoring 24 goals and providing four assists in 37 Ligue 1 appearances, averaging 2.9 shots per game. Having scored 15 league goals in the season prior and 25 strikes from 42 outings for the Canadian national team, he is clearly a man who knows where the back of the net is and has a decent goal-scoring pedigree in one of Europe’s top-five leagues.
It had been expected that David would leave Les Dogues this past summer, but a move didn’t materialise despite strong links with a move to Tottenham as a Harry Kane replacement towards the end of the window. With David under contract until 2025, the Ligue 1 side remains open to sell the striker in January.
If Chelsea do manage to acquire his signature, the 23-year-old would not only bring goals to the team but bring excellent flexibility to the squad at Stamford Bridge having operated in five various positions since the start of his career, including out wide on both the left and right flanks alongside his natural role.
It will be interesting to see Chelsea finally splashing the cash on a striker in January. For now, though, Pochettino will have find goal solutions from within the squad at his disposal.
