Inevitably, the two clubs will have to sit down at a table, talk and discuss. That includes what was not discussed again last summer, and there is plenty unsaid, when Juventus put serious intentions on the table for Sørloth and Atlético Madrid replied by asking again for Nico González, perhaps on loan, perhaps with delayed and instalment-based payment. The clubs did not understand each other.
How David Went to Spain
They did meet out of necessity, above all Juventus’s. When room had to be made for the incoming striker, Jonathan David, first approached and then clinging to the possibility of playing in Spain, was dealt with in a moment, and it was the right one. End of August, after all, is for compromises.
The deal was simply an understanding: the Canadian left quickly on a free loan, with the possibility of buying him for €25 million in three instalments. For Juventus, that remains the valuation of David, even today. At the time it had become so after a complicated year, between Tudor and Spalletti, and three months spent looking for a shared solution. In Turin they had legitimately started about ten million higher. They sweetened the pill of a story that began badly, a show of strength for others that ended up strengthening nobody.
Juventus Still Look for a Nine
Juventus themselves have hardly recovered from that misunderstanding. They remain in search of a nine after seeing David, Openda, Kolo Muani and Woltemade. What the four have in common is that none of them is a penalty-box striker. It is the same diagnosis Tuttosport made yesterday when it said the “true 9” question had to be settled in the January market.
David at Atlético: A Fading Picture
In the spaces of La Liga, and then in the Champions League, the Canadian seemed rediscovered, scoring three goals in a row at the start of the season. He appeared to have found sharpness and opportunities. Then came the break, the national team, fewer chances and a declining phase, including in the chances created. Today David is one of Simeone’s first substitutes.
The Nico González Parallel
The article draws a comparison with Nico González’s last experience at Atlético, which was full of satisfactions but not of the ability to impose himself through to the end, meaning to confirmation. Atlético had shown a desire to continue together, pushed above all by the Argentine coach, with whom González had spoken at length even during the World Cup. But Juventus’s request never received an answer adequate to the question. And so, nothing.
The headline’s “three on the table,” with David, González and Sørloth, reflects how the three stories are now intertwined. Atlético’s evaluation of the €25m option will be decided partly by how David’s minutes develop, and that in turn affects whether Juventus can book a capital gain of the kind Carnevali said they need under the UEFA agreement.
