Spalletti: ´Nice boy´ David needs to add grit to his game

Luciano Spalletti has urged Jonathan David to add more determination to his game and drop his “nice boy aura” as the forward aims to stake his claim at Juventus.

David joined Juve from Lille last year, but has so far been unable to replicate the levels he displayed across his time in France.

The Canada international has played 28 games in all competitions for Juve this season, scoring five goals. He has underperformed his 9.1 expected goals (xG) by 4.1, with a 13.9% shot conversion rate.

With Dusan Vlahovic out injured, David has led Juve’s line, though there are reports that Juve are hoping to bring in another striker this month, with Fenerbache’s Youssef En-Nesyri linked.

David missed a great chance as Juve went up against Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday, albeit his failure to score did ultimately not cost the Bianconeri, who won 2-0.

Indeed, David assisted Weston McKennie to put Juve two to the good, but Spalletti believes the 26-year-old is missing an edge to his game.

“David knows how to play football,” Spalletti told Amazon Prime Video.

“He might not have that determination and ferocity, in his view every match is the same, he has this nice boy aura, but maybe he needs a bit more experience to be more determined.

“That is where he has to improve.

“Apart from the goal, the match is a box you need to fill with other things too, otherwise the opponents force you to scramble in defence.

“David at times has to hold the ball up and work for the team, the same goes for [Lois] Openda.”

David created the joint-most chances for Juve against Benfica (two), but he managed just two touches in the opponent’s area.

The victory moved Juve into 15th in the Champions League standings, and they will have to beat Monaco next week to stand a chance of making it into the last 16 automatically, while relying on several other results to go their way.

“At times I am a little afraid we won’t make it, but that’s just what I am like,” said Spalletti, whose team can be sure of a play-off place at least.

“It was an important match, things get thrown in your direction if you don’t bring these results home, so there is a lot of tension that builds up.

“We had started well, then it was balanced with us sitting a little too deep, we lost the ball a few times far too cheaply, and that added even more pressure on us that was unnecessary.”