Jonathan David, who was signed by Juventus last summer to great acclaim, has so far failed to live up to the high expectations. However, rumors that the goalscorer is no longer invited to team events at the Old Lady are a myth.
Jonathan David is one of the guarantors that the Canadian national team will be relying on alongside Bayern winger Alphonso Davies at this summer’s home World Cup. And why not? The New York-born (Brooklyn) and Canadian-Haitian striker has already netted 39 times in 76 international matches to date.
Things also went really well at club level between 2020 and 2025: In addition to the 2021 French championship, David scored an average of over 17 goals per season for OSC Lille during this period and never recorded fewer than 13 goals.
No wonder many observers thought he would take the next step last summer and congratulated Juventus on a great deal in virtually the same breath. The Turin club were the lucky ones to land the professional at the beginning of July – and on a free transfer.
Mockery and ridicule after Panenka penalty
Almost exactly nine months later, however, it has to be said: David, who is under contract until 2030, is still struggling to find his feet in Serie A. In 30 first division games to date, he has only managed to score a meagre five goals. As four of these goals were scored between the beginning of January and February, the picture is even more negative: the attacker has been without a goal since February 1 and has not scored a single Serie A goal between August 24 and January 6. And to make matters worse, he missed two points on the way to the Champions League qualification with a miserable Panenka penalty in the 1:1 draw against Lecce – mockery and derision included.
David is still not unaffected by his own poor performance and the public criticism at the time, particularly from Juve fans, as the World Cup player nicknamed “The Iceman” has now openly explained in an interview with Canada’s The Sports Network.
“People don’t understand you”
“It’s all been a big up and down for me so far,” said the player, reflecting on his first few months with the Old Lady. “I came to a new club with high hopes and, of course, high expectations, and I haven’t scored as planned.” Which, from his point of view, is not easy to accept, especially at such big clubs as here in Turin: “Juventus is the club that is under greater scrutiny than any other in Italy, all eyes are on you – of course people talk here too.”.
Not all the rumors circulating about him are true, however, as David made clear. For example, there were rumours that the goalscorer would no longer be invited to further team events after making a mistake that is on the index in Italian cuisine – according to coach Luciano Spalletti, he sprinkled Parmesan over pasta with seafood – and that he was no longer fully integrated by his team-mates in the dressing room. “I don’t know how or why this rumor came up – but I know it’s not true because I’m still in the dressing room with these guys and we get on very well.”
In general, the striker now wants to look ahead, finish his first season with the Bianconeri, who have already been eliminated from the Coppa Italia and the Champions League, with a ticket to the top flight (currently fourth place, just ahead of Como and Roma) and add a few more goals to his own tally. He can’t influence the rest anyway: “People don’t understand you, don’t really know you and therefore tend to judge you. But that doesn’t matter, because you have people who are close to you, who love you and understand you for who you are. That’s why I don’t worry about it.”