Newcastle United’s Jonathan David decision explained as striker agrees £100k-per-week deal

Newcastle United transfer target Jonathan David is on the brink of being announced as a marquee signing at Juventus.

David has been chased by Premier League sides West Ham and Manchester United in recent weeks and has not been short of options. But why didn’t Newcastle push for the big-name striker that would have been celebrated as a marquee arrival at St James’ Park by fans?

The year 2025 began looking hopeful for Newcastle supporters keen to see David in the black and white of United. Head of recruitment Steve Nickson was spotted in France on scouting missions and was also in the stands at Anfield for Lille’s defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League.

Recently departed sporting director Paul Mitchell held talks to sign the Canada striker during the springtime. But those talks began to hit the buffers towards the end of Mitchell’s stint in charge and for the last two months before David’s exit from Lille the prospect of him joining Newcastle was described as “unrealistic”, according to sources close to the deal.

The David camp did have encouragement from Newcastle at one stage as Nickson trailed the 25-year-old, who hit 31 goals for club and country last term.

However, as the likes of Juve and Napoli cranked up their interest and turned it into concrete offers, Newcastle did not compete for the star’s signature, despite telling his representatives that they “rated” the centre-forward highly.

The announcement of Mitchell’s exit from Newcastle in late May was deemed a major red flag by those in the David entourage that the Magpies would not come back. Notably, one source suggests that Mitchell was not in favour of extending the contracts of senior players in the camp and wanted to start afresh with some new faces.

But it was then stated by Newcastle that discussions of new deals for the likes of Callum Wilson and John Ruddy had started. Once Mitchell’s exit became clear, those close to David said that Newcastle then had “no chance” of signing for the Magpies.

Another interesting takeaway from David’s agreement with Juve is that his salary of around £100,000 per week would fit in with Newcastle’s pay scale although there was talk of a bonus of up to £2m a year and the small matter of an agent fee worth more than £8m.

Nevertheless, given David is one of the top five strikers in Europe in terms of goals, it was a knockdown deal for a player who has a valuation of £50m and can play as a second striker.

It is our information that David’s representative was at Newcastle’s 1-0 win over West Ham in March, but the interest cooled down, and Newcastle walked away from the deal.

David has struck 145 career goals at club level with Lille and Gent in Belgium but will now test himself on the Serie A stage.