There's no question that Tottenham Hotspur could use another goal-scorer in 2026 when the next transfer windows open up. This past summer, they signed Randal Kolo Muani on loan from PSG to go with the permanent signing of left winger Mathys Tel and the completely new addition of a true star right winger in Mohammed Kudus.
But Spurs are still struggling on the attacking end, even with Kudus looking like one of the signings of the season. Kolo Muani has been unable to debut owing to a "dead leg", while last season's starting striker Dominic Solanke has been out for a prolonged period of time with an injury. And Richarlison is struggling again after a nice few games to start the 2025/26 season.
Tottenham could have signed a permanent solution at striker last summer, and one of the most attractive options was free agent Jonathan David, who was widely seen as one of the best free transfers on the market after a few 15-goal seasons in Lille and his development into one of Europe's better all-around strikers.
David has been decent in Serie A, but his performances in the Champions League for Juventus have been atrocious. He dropped another true stinker in a draw to Villarreal, as the goals from the Biancneri came from a center back and a winger, rather than anything David did up top.
Bigger wages than goal output?
On his new contract with Juventus, David is making a little over 11 million euros per season, which would make him the highest-paid player on Tottenham, even above Cristian Romero and Xavi Simons. There should be no question that Romero and Simons are way, way better players than David. They are true world-class players, whereas David has been good for Lille but is certainly not world-class.
The other aspect to this is that Juve wanted to sign Kolo Muani and largely focused on David because PSG were not giving them RKM. Tottenham, meanwhile, likely chopped David off their transfer wishlist entirely because of concerns of blowing their money on his wages, and while Spurs can be criticized for being too cheap at times, they are very smart to not fall for the "free" part of the free agent moniker and saddle themselves with a bad contract in the process.
David will do better for Juve going forward, but it's clear that for the wages, he's not a great option at striker and is debatably better than any of Spurs options when everyone is healthy. Tottenham should be looking at long-term striker options, but, in the end, they were right for passing up on the Canadian international.