Promise David had a five-year plan. He would score bags of goals, earn a transfer to a top European league and play for Canada at the 2026 World Cup. There was just one problem: apart from his parents, teammates and coaches, no one in soccer seemed to know his name.

It was 2023, and the striker was scrapping for minutes in Estonia’s Meistriliiga – a league small enough that streaming services didn’t bother with its matches. He was 22 and already a football nomad. He had been cut from his home town club’s academy. Passed over by NCAA college programs. Relegated to the reserve squad of almost every club he played for.

Even to an optimist, the prospect of playing at a World Cup – let alone a move to the Premier League – was about as distant as Brighton’s shores from David’s home town of Brampton, Ontario. But then, David has never minded the road less travelled.

“He’s worked a lot to get where he is,” says Kaido Koppel, David’s former head coach at Estonia’s Nomme Kalju. “It’s not by accident.”

That perseverance has paid off: David’s loan from Royale Union Saint-Gilloise to Brighton, if made permanent, may yet become the second-most expensive Canadian soccer player transfer in history, after the $34m move of Jonathan David (no relation) from Gent to Lille in 2020. This past summer, Promise David became the fifth Canadian ever to score at a men’s World Cup. Another appearance in 2030 seems likely.

Even to those who have known the wandering striker since the beginning, his rapid ascent has defied expectations. And now the biggest question is what comes next.

‘He’s not missing’

David, born Promise Oluwatobi Emmanuel David Akinpelu, is used to being overlooked. He was cut from Toronto FC’s academy at age 15. He was a riddle for coaches: smart and preternaturally gifted, but – like many a teenager – unfocused.

He was “never on time for anything”, laughs Jorden Feliciano, who coached a teenaged David at Vaughan SC, where he played after getting cut by Toronto FC.

Still, Feliciano says, “the kid could turn it on when he wanted”.

Vaughan, a semi-pro soccer club north of Toronto, has a reputation as one of Canada’s best incubators for men’s and women’s talent, having produced the likes of Celtic’s Alistair Johnston and Chelsea’s Kadeisha Buchanan.

“On the field, you never really knew what you were getting from him,” says Stefan Copetti, David’s teammate at Vaughan. “Either he was going to come off the bench and score two goals, or kind of just coast around.”

Still, Copetti says, “When he’s in front of goal, he’s not missing.”

A footballing odyssey

Most of David’s teammates at Vaughan earned full-ride scholarships to US college soccer programs. He received one offer: a partial scholarship to Appalachian State University. At the suggestion of a trainer, he took a shot at a Toronto-area talent showcase hosted by NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac, a second-tier Croatian club. He impressed the scouts and club president Niko Tokic Kartelo enough to earn an invite to their youth academy in Zagreb. But as soon as David landed in Croatia, Kartelo was ousted from his role. The club offer fell through. The ex-president took David into his home.

“I could not simply abandon [him] in a foreign country,” Kartelo says. He tried to find David another playing opportunity in Croatia, but met closed doors.

“No club wanted him,” he says.

David landed in Croatia’s third division, but left after getting little playing time. His journey continued, first to FC Tulsa in the USL Championship, and then, in 2022, to Valletta in the Maltese Premier League. He arrived as a 21-year-old with dwindling hopes of a pro career, and wasted no time making an impression. He scored a 90th-minute equalizer in his third match for the club, then followed up with another goal in his next match. In 14 appearances, he notched four goals and assists apiece, including the goal that sent Valletta to the Maltese FA Trophy final.

“Lots of clubs try to get these tall, physical strikers,” says Valletta forward Andrea Zammit, a former teammate, “but how ‘Tobi’ was built – 6 ft 5in, physical, a good finisher – it’s quite rare to find someone like that.”

From Estonia to the World Cup

David parlayed his scoring burst with Valletta into a two-year deal with fellow Maltese club Sirens FC. He left after seven months, six goalless appearances, and just 135 minutes total before moving to Estonia.

He arrived at Nomme Kalju with “some things to work on”, Koppel says . David could outmuscle most defenders, but his defensive effort lapsed. Koppel played Promise with the reserves, a team of mostly high schoolers.

“It was like he got pissed off,” Koppel says, “and decided to make his mark.”

David netted 22 goals in 19 matches with the reserves, then added seven more with the first team. He wrote “2026” on his locker and went on a scoring tear that hasn’t ended. In 2024, he notched 14 goals and three assists in just 16 appearances. It earned him a move to Belgium’s Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, where he earned the nickname “Baby Lukaku” for his head-turning finishes. He bagged a brace against Gent to earn Union their first Belgian Pro League title since 1935. He scored at PSV Eindhoven in his Champions League debut. He scored again at Galatasaray, ending a 33-match home unbeaten run for the reigning Turkish champions. He scored with defenders tearing off his shirt.

David’s nose for goal – and his off-the-cuff interviews – made him a fast favorite among Union supporters. In recent years, that same joie de vivre has turned him into one of the emerging faces of Canada’s national team.

“It’s his personality that gets you,” says Feliciano. “He’s funny, he’s goofy, he’s always in a good mood.”

David earned his first call-up from Jesse Marsch in 2025. He scored against Ukraine in his debut for Canada and managed to earn a World Cup roster spot despite rupturing a hip tendon mere months before the tournament. There, he dispelled any lingering doubts about his abilities. In their opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina, he assisted Cyle Larin on Canada’s lone goal a mere 17 minutes after subbing on for Jonathan David. Two matches later against Switzerland, he scored on his first touch of the match, an outside-of-the-boot volley that sent Vancouver’s BC Place into hysterics.

David had achieved one part of his goal. The other was soon to come.

New league, new expectations

Now, David faces his biggest challenge: can he keep bagging goals while playing at the likes of Anfield instead of Anderlecht?

In announcing David’s signing on loan from Union for the 2026-27 season, Brighton sporting director Mike Cave called the 25-year-old an “out-and-out striker” and a player the club had “been watching for some time”. Brighton’s brass hope David’s scoring touch will help fill the void left by Danny Welbeck, who departed for Chelsea in August.

David made his Premier League debut against Welbeck’s Chelsea on 30 August, playing 10 minutes in a 4-3 loss at Stamford Bridge. He saw another short stint against Leeds in a 1-1 draw. A first start, and a first goal, awaits. So, too, does the spotlight of the sport’s most demanding league, which forgives little and asks plenty.

Feliciano, for one, believes his former charge is up to the task.

“He’s only ever had to endure adversity. He’s never had it easy.”