Newcastle United were one of many, many clubs hoping to get their hands on Canadian international striker Jonathan David this summer when his contract at French club Lille expired at the end of June.
We really wanted Newcastle to go all out to sign the 25-year-old goal machine, not only because he’s an outstanding talent, but also because his acquisition wouldn’t have harmed the budget as much as finding a striker to buy will.
Free transfers often have other inflated fees tacked on to them, which still makes them costly deals to do, but without a large transfer fee, they are still, obviously, way cheaper than a purchase, so while signing Jonathan David would still have affected the budget, it wouldn’t have been catastrophic.
Unfortunately, though, it seems that the striker has chosen his next destination, and it’s not Tyneside.
Jonathan David seems to be heading to Juventus to play with Lloyd Kelly
It was always going to be a big ask for Newcastle to convince David to come to St James’ Park with all of the options available to him, and now Fabrizio Romano has revealed where the Canadian is likely to be playing next season after reaching a verbal agreement.
Who can Newcastle find who is willing to battle Alexander Isak for a starting spot?
As much as we really wanted Newcastle to get this deal done, we came to terms with the fact that it wouldn’t happen a long time ago.
It would have been asking too much to have someone of Jonathan David’s quality to come to Newcastle and play second fiddle to Alexander Isak above any other obstacles that may have arisen.
Newcastle still need a centre-forward though, one that is capable of challenging Alexander Isak for a starting place, but is also comfortable being second choice. That won’t be easy to find.
