Promise David’s route from Malta and Estonia to Brighton and the Premier League

Promise David, Brighton’s summer loan signing from Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, made his Premier League debut at Stamford Bridge on 30 August, appearing for 10 minutes in a 4-3 defeat to Chelsea. The 25-year-old striker, who both scored and assisted for Canada at the 2026 World Cup, is the subject of this profile published on 15 September 2026.

David set a five-year plan to score goals, move to a top European league and play for Canada at the 2026 World Cup, but his early career was marked by setbacks: he was cut from Toronto FC’s academy at 15, passed over by NCAA programs, and by 2023 was scrapping for minutes in Estonia’s Meistriliiga at age 22. Kaido Koppel, David’s former head coach at Nomme Kalju, commented on his work ethic: "He’s worked a lot to get where he is."

At Vaughan SC after leaving Toronto FC, coaches saw a player of clear ability but unpredictable output. Jorden Feliciano said "the kid could turn it on when he wanted," while team-mate Stefan Copetti recalled, "On the field, you never really knew what you were getting from him," and added, "When he’s in front of goal, he’s not missing." Vaughan has produced players such as Celtic’s Alistair Johnston and Chelsea’s Kadeisha Buchanan.

A Toronto-area showcase arranged by NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac led to an invitation to the club’s youth academy in Zagreb, but the offer collapsed after president Niko Tokic Kartelo was ousted; Kartelo later said, "I could not simply abandon [him] in a foreign country." Attempts to place David in other Croatian clubs failed — "No club wanted him," Kartelo says — and his next moves included a spell in Croatia’s third division and a stint at FC Tulsa before joining Valletta in the Maltese Premier League in 2022 as a 21-year-old.

David scored a 90th-minute equaliser in his third match for Valletta and another in his following game; across 14 appearances he recorded four goals and four assists, including the strike that sent Valletta to the Maltese FA Trophy final. Team-mate Andrea Zammit praised his profile and finishing, noting "how ‘Tobi’ was built – 6 ft 5in, physical, a good finisher – it’s quite rare to find someone like that." A subsequent two-year deal at Sirens FC ended after seven months with six goalless appearances and 135 minutes before he moved to Estonia.

At Nomme Kalju he arrived with, in Koppel’s words, "some things to work on." Played initially with the reserves, David scored 22 goals in 19 reserve matches and added seven for the first team, then wrote "2026" on his locker and continued his scoring run. In 2024 he notched 14 goals and three assists in 16 appearances, a form that secured his transfer to Belgium’s Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.

At Union he earned the nickname "Baby Lukaku" for his finishing, scored a brace against Gent to help Union win their first Belgian Pro League title since 1935, and found the net in Europe — at PSV Eindhoven on his Champions League debut and at Galatasaray, where his goal ended the Turkish club’s 33-match home unbeaten run. Supporters took to him after a run of striking moments that included defenders tearing off his shirt.

David broke into Canada’s squad when Jesse Marsch called him up in 2025; he scored on his debut against Ukraine and, despite rupturing a hip tendon months before the World Cup, made the tournament roster. In Canada’s opener versus Bosnia and Herzegovina he assisted Cyle Larin on the side’s lone goal 17 minutes after replacing Jonathan David, and two matches later against Switzerland he scored on his first touch with "an outside-of-the-boot volley" at Vancouver’s BC Place; he became the fifth Canadian to score at a men’s World Cup, and another appearance in 2030 seems likely.

Brighton announced David’s loan from Union for the 2026-27 season, with sporting director Mike Cave calling him an "out-and-out striker" and a player the club had "been watching for some time." Brighton view him as an option to help replace Danny Welbeck, who departed for Chelsea in August; David made a brief appearance in a 1-1 draw with Leeds after his Stamford Bridge debut, and he now awaits his first start and first goal for the club. Jorden Feliciano summed up his trajectory: "He’s only ever had to endure adversity. He’s never had it easy."