Aston Villa are reportedly in talks to try and sign Jonathan David on a free transfer this summer to bolster our attacking options.
The 25-year-old’s current contract with Lille is set to expire at the end of the season, and it has been confirmed that he will not sign a new deal to extend his stint with the Ligue 1 side.
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In turn, he will become a free agent in the summer, and after an impressive stint in France, it sounds as though he won’t be short of potential suitors who have been impressed by his impact.
David joined Lille in August 2020, and he has since gone on to score 109 goals and provide 30 assists in 231 appearances for the club, while he’s bagged 32 goals in 61 caps for Canada.
With those figures in mind, it’s no surprise then that he’s got plenty of admirers, with L’Equipe reporting that Villa are in talks to try and land his signature, but so are Tottenham, Napoli and Juventus, and so we’ll face a battle to fend off the competition and secure our touted priority target.
Villa’s ability to qualify for the Champions League could be a fundamental factor in convincing David to join us over the other clubs mentioned, but there’s no doubt that it’s an area of Unai Emery’s squad that we need to look at over the summer.
After selling Jhon Duran in January, we found a temporary solution with our loan deal for Marcus Rashford, but it’s unclear at this stage if he’ll be signed on a permanent basis from Manchester United in the summer.
Assuming we don’t, that leaves Ollie Watkins as our only option to lead the line, and with speculation over his future in recent weeks too, there could be a major shake up in our attacking options ahead of next season.
Ideally, Watkins will stay as he remains a fundamental figure for Emery, but if we are to continue to progress and compete for major honours across multiple fronts, we’ll need competition and depth, and if David is seen as the best solution on the market this summer, with the added bonus that he’ll be a free transfer, then it’s hoped that we can ultimately win the race to sign him.