Lille forward Jonathan David says he grew up dreaming of playing for Arsenal or Barcelona

Lille forward Jonathan David has said he grew up dreaming of playing for Arsenal or Barcelona, according to French media outlet L’Equipe via Goal.

The 21-year-old striker joined Lille from Belgian side Gent for north of £26 million last summer. After making a slow start to life in France, the Canada international has found his feet and is in a rich vein of form. He has scored five goals and provided four assists in 29 appearances across all competitions.

In the summer, the player was linked with a move to Arsenal. He ended up signing for Lille but is a player that is understood to be on the North London club’s radar. With Alexandre Lacazette having just under 18 months remaining on his contract, the Gunners could be looking for a new striker in the near future and David could be on their shortlist.

The Canadian striker watched a lot of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal as he was growing up and idolised players like Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. He has admitted that he had his heart set on playing for either the Gunners or Barcelona early on in his life. He said:

“European clubs made me dream. I watched Barca a lot, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, with Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. I might not have been ready in my head. But that was the only option, my goal from the start. I knew I had to make sacrifices.”

“That’s when I met Nick Mavromaras, my agent, who had the contacts.”

He had the option to move to Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer but chose to sign for Lille instead. On his move, he said:

“At the meeting with Luis Campos [Lille’s sporting director at the time], I liked his project,” David added. “It was a very young team, with a lot of ambition and there was the Champions League. I was going to play, continue my progress in a French-speaking environment, which was supposed to help my integration.”

“Ligue 1 was a chance to grow at a big club at the top of the table. It was the right time to test myself.”

“Gent wanted to keep me. It was tense, but my decision had already been taken. I had seen that Lille were ready fight to get me.”