All options on the table as David prepares for Liverpool clash

This week, TSN again asked Jonathan David's camp the question that has dominated Canadian soccer for more than three years: "What is his club situation? When is he going to make that big move?"

As it was in 2022, 2023, 2024, and now January of 2025 – with his five-year contract at Lille ending this summer – the response remains the same: “All options are on the table,” is the word from David’s camp.

It's a camp that includes his representatives, his marketing and social media team, a personal trainer, and a personal striker coach. That’s not out of the ordinary for the best players, and David is one of the best strikers in Europe.

He is joint top scorer in Ligue 1 with 11 goals, and he sits 13th in the chase for the European Golden Boot as the continent’s top scorer.

He’s 25, and is among the best strikers in the world, too. But is he among the elite? The elite that either play on the best teams, or the best teams – typically, the historically successful teams – pursue?

Over the past four years, every one of those big teams has been linked to David. For many transfer windows now, the answer on his future has been the same: “All options are on the table.”

Then there’s been a lot of waiting to see if anything would happen. Nothing has, yet.

Lots of things agitate the soccer transfer market: a player's form; a team's finances; baseless rumours and publicity used as negotiating tactics; sudden coaching changes; outsized transfer fees and salary demands; the whims of an owner who is flamboyantly spendthrift one transfer window then tight-fisted the next.

Maybe all, some, or none of those things played a role in David staying at Lille through his five-year contract. Transfers never have and never will be an exact science.

There were no formal transfer bids for David last summer, and Lille's president said in December there wouldn't be a transfer this January. That means David is out of contract come this summer.

Right now, he can negotiate a pre-contract with any team in the world. And he has his own, big team around him because he’s getting ready for something; something only he can make happen.

On Tuesday, David and Lille travel to Liverpool to play the best team in the Premier League, and arguably the best team in Europe.

In this season's Champions League, David has already scored a penalty against Real Madrid, two goals against Atletico Madrid, and another goal against Juventus.

But if he scores inside the famous Anfield – perhaps in front of that much-glorified stand “The Kop” – on one of those Champions League nights the entire soccer world puts so much value in, it will be big news. And a lot of people are going to talk about it.

It’s how the elite build a different kind of reputation, by stacking big moments. If David scores another goal on another European night all those famous clubs will notice, especially Liverpool, who were linked with David, again, last December.

Remember what happened to Alphonso Davies in the Champions League in 2020.

Bayern’s interesting, speedy Canadian project ran around Chelsea inside Stamford Bridge in the round of 16, then ran right through Barcelona in the quarter-finals. By the time the Edmonton teenager lifted the European Cup at the end of that season, he was considered to be among the best left backs on the planet.

Last season, Davies scored against Real Madrid in the semifinals, and everyone thought it was the perfect job interview in front of a potential new boss. It sparked discussion about his future, and now, according to recent reports, it's all apparently led to Bayern and Davies being on the cusp of a new deal.

That's the bargaining power that comes with a big European night. But even with that example, David comes with his own precedent.

After 101 goals in 212 appearances for Lille, if he isn’t the greatest player in team history he is a very close second. The other guy in the discussion being former academy graduate and eventual Chelsea then Real Madrid midfielder Eden Hazard.

One of those 101 goals essentially clinched the French title four years ago in a pivotal game against eventual runners-up Paris Saint-Germain. In the same week late last November, David claimed top spot as the men’s team’s all-time leading scorer with a goal against Suriname, right before the Ottawa-native's image was painted on a massive mural to celebrate Lille’s 80th anniversary.

He then ended last year as Canada's men's player of the year.

David deserves an elite stage. Men’s national team head coach Jesse Marsch said it himself: “I’ve advertised him often as the most intelligent footballer I’ve ever coached.”

David’s power and endurance is built on his vision. He pursues the play, will win the ball, and then start building an opportunity he can finish. He does do so many great things on the field; but where he has to be elite is scoring.

Despite a ratio of nearly a goal every two games, there were stretches when David wasn’t scoring – most notably last season, he scored just six goals in 19 games from August through the January 2024 transfer window.

It’s not always all on a striker, but strikers score or they don’t score. And a big club’s interest can come and go just as easily.

But don’t think the pressure gets to him. The 2020 TSN Original was called “The Ice Man” for reason: David is cool and calm all the time. Yet, even with his quiet, sometimes impassive demeanour, he always seems to find the spotlight.

He doesn’t just find the spotlight; David wants the pressure in that light. He plans, he trains, he prepares and he plays like what he is: one of the best strikers in Europe.

When Lille's president explained why the team wasn't going to sell David – even at a reduced price – he said the club couldn't afford not to have David and his goals in games like this week’s matchup with Liverpool.

A Champions League night, in England, inside Anfield, with the world watching – that’s when David can prove he is elite.

All options really are on the table if he makes that night his night.