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While transfers are on the back burners right now for Bayern Munich and many other clubs across Europe’s top five leagues, a new report from Dortmund-based newspaper, Ruhr Nachrichten, suggests that Die Roten is keeping tabs on KAA Gent midfielder Jonathan David (via Fussballtransfers.com).
The Canadian international has enjoyed a strong 2019/2020 campaign with Gent in Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League having scored 10 goals and tallied 4 assists from a total of 33 appearances across all competitions. He’s already equaled his goals and assists tally from the entirety of the 2018/2019 season and has sparked interest from Bayern, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and Arsenal. It is most likely that he’ll wind up moving to the Bundesliga, as his agent Nick Mavromaris has already said the German top flight is where the 20-year old wants to go:
Jonathan is now ready for the next step. He wants to go to the Bundesliga. There are few better 20-year-olds in Europe. He is a great footballer, a player for the top five clubs in Europe.
A bit of filth from David playing for Canada:
20 year old Jonathan David is now the top goal scorer in Belgian League. 22 goals + 10 assists in all comps for Gent & its only February. Clubs chasing him: Arsenal, Leicester, Everton, RB Leipzig, Lyon, Napoli, Lazio among others. Remember the name pic.twitter.com/4grr4uWGZh
— LFC Views (@Mobyhaque1) February 24, 2020
It’s understood that Gent really has ambitions of making David their most expensive outgoing transfer, knowing how many top flight clubs are interested in acquiring his services. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gent managing and technical director Michel Louwagie valuated David at 20-million Euros. Of course, the landscape of the next transfer window after the pandemic has dissipated for the time being will likely dictate how much money clubs are willing to spend and where they want to spend it. For Bayern, their pursuit of Leroy Sane and/or Kai Havertz is still on the top of the list, but it’s uncertain if that will be feasible whenever the next transfer window will be.
David’s agent said “We have to wait and see” when he was asked about what the fee would be for his client, but the goal is still to get as much money as they can for him. In that respect, they have leverage with the fact that David’s current contract with Gent runs through 2023, combined with the fact that Bayern’s fiercest rivals in Dortmund and Leipzig are interested in buying him. Both Dortmund and Leipzig also have a rich history of buying young, relatively inexpensive talents and developing them into top class talents, so both clubs could have a leg up on Bayern when push comes to shove.