Jonathan David: The way from the late starter to the "Iceman"

A determined dribbling into the box, a lightning-fast one-two, acceleration in a confined space, close to the near post - as he was again. Seven games without scoring had the 4: 0 against Clermont last week end for Jonathan David. And thus also the worry in his club Lille OSC. Worry not only about the lack of goals of the 22-year-old Canadian, but also about the missing million.

• In the trial at Stuttgart David fell through
• football David never played before - and then different
• The interface is its habitat

The reigning French champions they anticipate a substantial transfer fee, which David, who long led the scoring charts in Ligue 1 and currently stands at 13 goals this season, is to wash in the summer in the empty club coffers. The Premier League is way up in the favor of the striker, next to the Arsenal are to British media reports, Liverpool and Newcastle United are vying for David.

In the trial at Stuttgart David fell through

VfB Stuttgart, however, has let his chance pass to the goalscorer. With almost 18 he applied with the submitted video from the coach with the Swabians, but at the trial he fell through - and moved instead in January 2018 to Ghent. "I was totally by the wind," David said later the Belgian newspaper "Het Nieuwsblad" about the Stuttgarter cancellation. "I was perfectly prepared, and what I had shown, had to be enough to be taken. As I am one hundred percent sure."

Instead shot David, which not only Stuttgart, but also RB Salzburg did not want the Belgian Jupiler League short and small - with 21 Lille for Sensations Championship in Ligue 1. He scored the winning goal in the showdown with PSG, the balance in the dramatic comeback in Lyon and was finally on the final day at the decisive 2: 1 in Angers directly involved in both goals. "Iceman" they call him now in Lille.

football David never played before - and then different

Here, the "Iceman" spent the first years of his life in much warmer climes. Born in New York City, he wandered as a baby out with the family to Haiti, with six years followed the next move to Ottawa. Played football there's no role. "I've only played American football," David told recently in the interview series "Next In Line". "With football, I have only started with ten. Since my father has simply plugged into a team." Ten years later, it cost nearly 30 million euros.

Ever not passed David's career as the model of the most highly traded top talent, who find in youth academies professional conditions. In the Canadian winter it failed already at the daily training. The square ice, the hall rent too expensive. "We were able to afford the maximum of twice a week," said David childhood friend Alban Meto last of "L'Equipe". "If we were lucky, we had a game on the weekend. If not, we went to the school gym."

The interface is its habitat

The adaptability David transferred to his current game. In Ghent, he acted sometimes as a playmaker, with Lille's former coach Christophe Galtier he gave the Nine Einhalber in 4-4-2. This season David is mostly used as a classical shock striker - he is actually not at all. His strengths are much more likely in the smart spatial behavior, agility between the chains, the right run at the right time. The interface is its natural habitat.

The typical number nine is found, however, only on his back. Physically, he had set after the change in the Ligue first "The intensity was higher, it was physically very demanding," David recalls the start of Lille, where he could have a record transfer of the club in the first ten games of the season not only Torbeteiligung. At the end of his debut season he was champion maker. A question of adaptation.