David stance could complicate Juventus hunt for a new striker

Reports in Italy claim that Jonathan David does not want to give up on his Juventus career after one disappointing season in Serie A, but the Canada international’s stance could complicate the club’s chances of bringing in a new centre-forward during the summer transfer window.

David joined Juventus on a free transfer during the 2025 summer transfer window, signing on a five-year contract running until the summer of 2030. The 26-year-old earns a reported wage of €6m per season plus up to €2m in bonuses in Turin.

Despite delivering a consistent return during his time in Ligue 1 with Lille, averaging above 17 league goals per season during his time in France, David struggled to hit the ground running in Serie A and for the first time in his professional career, ended a season without hitting double figures (six goals from 35 Serie A appearances, eight goals from 46 appearances across all competitions).

With Juventus missing out on qualification to the Champions League and with Dusan Vlahovic’s contract expiring at the end of June, Juventus have been keen to bring in a new centre-forward to add to Luciano Spalletti’s ranks.

Given that David arrived on a free transfer, any sale would be recorded as a capital gain for Juventus if they were to sell the Canadian this summer.

However, according to reports from La Gazzetta dello Sport, David is unwilling to give up on his Bianconeri career after just one season and is determined to prove his worth at the Allianz Stadium.

However, this could complicate Juventus’s search to bring in another centre-forward, given that David still earns a significant salary and selling Lois Openda outright this summer seems like an impossible task.

And, with an expected drop in budget of around €50m-€60m without access to the Champions League, stumping up the cash to sign a new, starting centre-forward while keeping both David and Openda on board is a difficult task to say the least.