Paris Saint-Germain is one of the richest football clubs in the world and is a true sporting event-but the team’s pursuit of a fourth consecutive championship has been thwarted by Canada’s rising star.
PSG is funded by the Emir of Qatar and has a list of the most expensive players in French football, which includes global stars such as Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. There is no doubt that they have won the French championship seven times in the Ligue 1 league in the past eight years.
But on Sunday, Lille OSC forward 21-year-old Jonathan David (Jonathan David) from Ottawa scored on the last day of the season and helped another man beat Angers SCO 2-1. This victory put Lille in first place, only one percentage point higher than PSG, and won the fourth Ligue 1 championship, which was also the first championship in ten years.
David’s appearance in the championship that helped Lille win a good title is a fair reward for a player who came to France with a big fanfare at the beginning of the season, but it looks like he will become a big loser.
David joined Lille from Belgian club KAA Gent last summer and scored 26 goals in 50 games. According to reports, Lille paid the club a record US$35 million transfer fee for David, making the forward the most expensive transfer fee in Canadian history.
Watch | Jonathan David helps Lille lift the Ligue 1 crown:
Canadian Jonathan David helped Lille beat Angers 2-1, which overwhelmed PSG with the French league title. 1:23
At first the life of the French disagreed with David. He didn’t score in his first 10 games. But David finally found his footing and scored 13 goals, which is the highest record for a Canadian among the top five in the European League in a single season. The previous record was held by Tomasz Radzinski, who scored 11 goals for Everton in the 2002-03 Premier League.
David’s perseverance particularly impressed Craig Forrest, who was a former goalkeeper of the Canadian national team and a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Forrest told the CBC: “He has to pay a high transfer fee to come to Lille, so the expectations are high, and he is still very young, which is a big change for him, so you feel that from the beginning It’s not good for him.” Sporty. “You can see that this affected his game and he looked a little desperate.
“But once he had some goals, that was enough. He gained more confidence and went all out, which caused a sensation for Lille.”
Canada’s success across the continent
Encouragingly, David’s success in Lille is not an isolated story of a Canadian who has performed well in one of Europe’s best leagues this season.
In fact, for Canadians, trading in Europe is an unprecedented period, because more and more members of the Canadian men’s national team are competing for the top cubs across the African continent and are the key to their success.
In Germany, Alphonso Davies will start another sensational campaign with Bayern Munich, helping the Bavarian giants win the Bundesliga for the ninth consecutive time.
Davies was one of the best Canadian athletes at the Lou Marsh Award last year, and now he has won nine major trophies in just three seasons with Bayern. He is only 20 years old and has earned the reputation of being one of the best left-backs in the world.
In Turkey, experienced defender/midfielder Atiba Hutchinson (Atiba Hutchinson) and forward Cyle Larin are the forward and center of Be?ikta?. The Istanbul-based club has won four. The first Super League championship in years and the cancellation of the Turkish Cup for the first time in ten years.
The 26-year-old Larin from Brampton, Ontario won 19 goals and ranked second in the Turkish League scoring competition. Harbinson is a native of Brampton, the captain of Be?ikta?, and a true workhorse. The 38-year-old has played 40 times in all competitions and inspired the club’s first “domestic double crown” since the 2008-09 season.
In Serbia, the 33-year-old Milan Borjan became the Red Star Belgrade team to win the SuperLiga championship for the fourth time in a row, becoming the club’s undisputed starting goalkeeper.
In Scotland, midfielder Scott Arfrield belongs to the Rangers team, which won the Premier League title and ended Glasgow’s rival Celtics’ nine consecutive Scottish league titles champion. Also in Scotland, David Wotherspoon starred in St. Johnstone’s wins in the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.
On the female side, Canadians Jessie Fleming and Cloé Lacasse won the Chelsea and Benfica league titles in 2021, respectively. On PSG, Ashley Lawrence (Ashley Lawrence) and Jordan (Jordyn Huitema) are about to win the French Women’s League Championship.
Forrest (Forrest) won 56 blocks for Canada between 1988 and 2002, but he does not remember the history of so many Canadians being famous in European club football.
Forrest said: “If you only look at Alfonso, it will be impossible for anyone in Canadian football to do. But with the addition of others-Atiba, Lalin, David, this is an unprecedented period. .” In the town of Ipswich, England, Chelsea and West Ham United.
Forrest hopes that after Qatar resumes qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup next month, all the successes of Canadian players across Europe at the club level will benefit the Canadian men’s team. Canada is trying to qualify for the World Cup for the second time. Appeared in Mexico in 1986.
Forrest said: “There is no reason Canada shouldn’t lend a helping hand to any of Konkafaff’s teams.”
“Look at some of the talents that Canada has. They have established a very high standard in some of the top European leagues, so it bodes well for the World Cup qualifiers.”
