For the second straight summer, Juventus and Atlético Madrid have agreed to a loan deal involving a player who had a bit of a struggle during his first season in Turin with the hope that Spain cures some of those previous ills.
Last summer it was Nico Gonzalez, who is now back in Turin and looks set to stay after scoring the game-winning goal against Parma over the weekend. This summer, it's Canadian striker Jonathan David, whose first season in Turin could be described as quite the difficult one with not very many goals scored.
According to multiple reports out of Italy and Spain on Monday, Juventus at Atlético Madrid have agreed to a season-long loan deal for David. It ends a 12-month period in Turin in which David's struggles were vastly superior to good moments he showed under Igor Tudor and then especially Luciano Spalletti. David, who arrived on a free transfer from Lille and was subsequently handed a contract by former sporting chief Damien Comolli that made him one of the highest earners on the team, will now head to Atléti in hopes of following the same kind of path that Gonzalez did during the 2025-26 season. But as we found out with Nico, it doesn't necessarily equate to Atlético Madrid actually activating the buy option that they will have in the deal.
Said buy option is around €25 million, according to Fabrizio Romano . There are apparently no set clauses worked into the deal — it is very much a loan with option to buy situation.
The move to La Liga is the chance for David to get his career back on track after his performances with Juventus resulted in the lowest goal tally of his career, scoring just six goals in 35 appearances in Serie A last season. Once he got in a funk, it was tough for him to get out of it, and it was reflected in how his minutes suffered as a result as the season went on under Spalletti.
As Romano points out, Atlético Madrid will cover more than 50% of David's €6 million net salary.
But, a lot like some of Comolli's other brilliant business from last summer's mercato, they're only leaving Juventus on loan with buy options, if that. The hope, of course, is that David plays well enough to get some sort of interest going in him so there can be a sale next summer. The fear, of course, is that he struggles again and Juve are left in this kind of situation for a second consecutive summer with a player who is coming off a poor season and his huge wages make him the kind of asset that few clubs will want to shell out cash for.
For now, though, David is heading to Atlético Madrid and will play in the Champions League this season — which is something that none of his Juventus teammates will be doing a couple of weeks from now.
