Juventus' Canadian forward Jonathan David, right, and Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels vie for the ball during a friendly match in Dortmund, Germany, this past Sunday.INA FASSBENDER/AFP/Getty Images
Both the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga kick off on Friday. Other European leagues have already begun, and Italy’s Serie A and the German Bundesliga begin next weekend. With a World Cup in the offing, Canadian players in these leagues have less than 10 months to make their case for selection to the national program.
Canadian men’s national team coach Jesse Marsch will certainly be paying attention, with most of his key players plying their trade there.
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Although some of them are near-certainties to make his squad for next summer – Bayern Munich wingback Alphonso Davies, for instance – others will be looking to make a splash in the hopes of making the cut or simply ensuring that they arrive in the form of their lives.
Here’s a look at five who head into the new season with a lot to play for.
Jonathan David, Juventus
While the Canadian men’s record goal-scorer is virtually guaranteed to be one of the first names on Marsch’s team sheet, he heads into the new season with a new team in a new league, and with whole new level of pressure on his shoulders.
With all due respect to Lille – David’s home for the past five seasons – Juventus is on a completely different level. La Vecchia Signora (the Old Lady) has a record 36 Italian championships, and having gone five seasons without one, is desperate to return to the winner’s circle.
The 25-year-old David will be expected to spearhead that assault, as well as fire the club deep into the Champions League, where it has not gone beyond the quarter-finals since 2017. He’s certainly shown his pedigree in the past, scoring against Liverpool, Real Madrid and his new club in last season’s Champions League, and accumulating a total of 146 goals in 315 appearances for both Lille and Belgium’s Gent over the last seven seasons.
Tajon Buchanan, Villarreal
Following an injury-affected spell at Inter Milan – where he made just one start and 16 appearances over 13 months – the Brampton, Ont., native found his feet at Villarreal. After a successful audition which saw Buchanan score once – matching his entire output for Inter – along with two assists in 13 appearances, the Spanish club made the loan arrangement permanent this summer, paying $14.4-million for the winger.
Villarreal's Tajon Buchanan, right, fights for the ball with Arsenal's Mikel Merino during a pre-season friendly match in London on Aug. 6.GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images
The Yellow Submarine, as the team is known owing to its all-yellow kit, will get its season under way Friday at Oviedo, where Buchanan will hope to continue building on his recent good form. He showed just how important he is to the national team’s hopes this summer, with four goals and an assist in his past six international appearances. A full season in Spain, health permitting, can only be a good thing.
Ismaël Koné, Sassuolo
The talent that got him on the field at the last World Cup as a 20-year-old is still there, but after a checkered campaign at Marseille – which included a loan to Rennes and a blow-up with manager Roberto De Zerbi, which has since gone viral – Koné has much to play for.
The midfielder has been loaned out by Marseille once again, receiving a fresh start at recently promoted Sassuolo in Italy. He may get thrown in at the deep end when the Serie A season starts next weekend, with champions Napoli paying a visit to the Reggio Emilia-based club.
Koné is clearly still very much part of Marsch’s plans, having played in 14 of the American coach’s 21 games in charge, but becoming a regular starter in one of the best leagues in Europe can only boost his standing.
Cyle Larin, Real Mallorca
With the rise of Promise David and Tani Oluwaseyi among Canada’s forward ranks, Larin may no longer be the automatic starter for the national team he once was. The man who originally broke Dwayne De Rosario’s national team goals record, before David surpassed them both, now appears to have a fight on his hands to show that he can still lead the line for Canada.
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After bouncing around from Turkey to Belgium to Spain, Larin appears to have found a home with Real Mallorca, where he has spent the past two seasons. However, his touch in front of goal appears to have largely deserted him, with the 30-year-old having scored just 10 goals in his past 67 appearances in La Liga.
His form in Canadian red is no better. Despite scoring 30 goals in 86 appearances, he has found the net just once in his last 20 national-team games. A big season in Spain is a must for one of the longest-tenured players in Marsch’s squad.
Luc de Fougerolles, Dender
Fulham will kick off its Premier League season Saturday with a visit to Brighton. But de Fougerolles, who is on the Cottagers’ books as a 19-year-old centre back, is already two games into his season, having signed for Belgian club Dender on a year-long loan.
The move is perfectly timed for the London-born Canadian, who impressed over the summer while at the Canadian Shield and Gold Cup tournaments, having already made seven appearances under Marsch.
Though yet to make a Premier League appearance for Fulham, the young defender will benefit from his time in Belgium, which has proved a fertile proving ground for many of his international teammates, including David and Buchanan.
With both Moïse Bombito and Derek Cornelius standing in his way on the centre back depth charts, de Fougerolles will need to impress in what may shape up to be a relegation fight for 13th-place Dender, who went down 2-0 last weekend to Sint-Truidense as de Fougerolles received the first red card of his young career.