Brennan Johnson: The teams that want him – and why Forest Nottingham Forest
It’s January 2022. Brennan Johnson is playing for Nottingham Forest in a Championship match against Barnsley and, at the end of the night, there are some difficult discussions to be had.
That day, Brentford had submitted an £18million bid for the quick, incisive player on the right-hand side of Forest’s attack. Brentford’s information was that the deal had been accepted. They were convinced they had got their man. How convinced? Enough for a medical to be booked in for the next day.
One problem: nobody had informed Steve Cooper, Forest’s manager, while he was preparing for a match under the floodlights. Dane Murphy, Forest’s chief executive, was also unaware as the directors’ box filled up before the match.
The game finished 3-0 in Forest’s favour but it was a tense evening. Cooper had to make it clear that, yes, the money was good, but what about the potential impact it could have on Forest’s chances of promotion? Murphy, and others, agreed it would be a grievous setback to lose such a key player midway through the season.
It turned out to be one of the better decisions of the Evangelos Marinakis era: the deal was called off, Forest returned to the Premier League for the first time in almost a quarter of a century and Johnson was named as the Championship’s player of the year.
His transfer value has subsequently soared to around £45million, maybe even closer to £50million, as he has adapted to the higher level, establishing himself as a key international for Wales and scoring 10 goals in his first Premier League season.
These, however, increasingly feel like they might be his final days in Forest’s colours. Harry Kane’s transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich has left the London club with money to spend. Brentford are still pushing hard and various other clubs, including Atletico Madrid, have given serious consideration to Johnson’s potential availability this summer.
Forest have ambitions of their own but the bottom line is that, if their valuation is met, they will take the money. The club have concerns about straying the wrong side of the financial fair-play rules — and selling Johnson, as much as it would grieve them, would immediately soothe those worries.
So where is his most likely destination?
The clear favourite is Tottenham, as long as they stump up the dough and their chairman, Daniel Levy, doesn’t try anything too clever now we are in the final stages of the transfer window.
spurs registered their interest earlier in the summer and initially proposed a financial package that would have meant Forest receiving an initial £20million as well as Davidson Sanchez, their out-of-favour Colombian centre-half. Other players were mentioned as alternatives. That, however, was not satisfactory for Forest, who wanted hard cash rather than having players foisted upon them.
The window closes at 11pm BST on Friday and Forest’s expectation is that Spurs will leave it late, as is often Levy’s preference.
Until recently, however, it was Chelsea who were giving the impression that they might push harder for Johnson than any of their rivals and, at that stage, there were talks about whether Callum Hudson-Odoi could be part of an exchange. That idea was not quashed: Hudson-Odoi was one of Cooper’s players when England won the under-17s World Cup under his management six years ago.
Aston Villa also tried to tempt Forest into a similar kind of arrangement when they spoke to Marinakis’ son, Miltiadis, and offered Lucas Digne as the bait in a player-plus-cash deal. Villa knew Forest were looking for a left-back. Digne, however, earns £120,000 a week and that was seen by Forest as excessive.
At one stage it looked as though Atletico Madrid might offer Johnson the chance to move to La Liga. It was always dependent on the Spanish club raising money through their own sales and it has not, ultimately, worked out in a way that was viable.
Crystal Palace also had Johnson on their radar if Chelsea had managed to lure Michael Olise away from Selhurst Park. As it was, Olise turned down Chelsea’s offer and Palace stepped away from the queue of clubs fluttering their eyelashes in Johnson’s direction.
But there are other clubs, too, who might wish, on reflection, that they had tried harder to get Johnson when he was available for a fraction of today’s price.
PREMIER LEAGUE CLUB NOW CONFIDENT SPURS WILL SIGN ‘VERY EXCITING’ PLAYER
Tottenham Hotspur are now closing in on the signing of Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson with a deal expected this week.
Nottingham Forest are confident that Tottenham Hotspur will now strike a deal to sign attacker Brennan Johnson.
That is according to The Times, who report that Tottenham are closing in on bringing Johnson to North London.
It’s stated that Tottenham are ‘getting closer’ to a £50million deal for Johnson with the Forest attacker preferring Spurs to Brentford.
The report adds that Forest are now ‘confident’ that Tottenham will agree a deal for Johnson before Friday’s transfer deadline.
There is real potential for some Spurs players to go in the opposite direction with defender Davinson Sanchez a prime candidate.
The Colombian centre back has been linked with a Tottenham exit all summer and Forest could be his new home as part of a deal for Johnson.
This comes after Football London’s Alasdair Gold reported on Sunday that Johnson has become Ange Postecoglou’s number one transfer target.
The Telegraph added on Monday that Daniel Levy has been in direct talks with Forest to secure Johnson, hopefully a sign that a deal is close from a Tottenham perspective.
Brennan Johnson brings something different to Tottenham Hotspur
We can understand some scepticism around Tottenham’s move for Johnson.
The 22-year-old isn’t a natural replacement for Harry Kane and Tottenham are likely paying up big money to bring him in.
Johnson scored eight goals in the Premier League last season which is a far cry from the numbers Kane was putting up.
The Wales international shouldn’t be viewed as the out-and-out Kane replacement though.
Johnson – hailed as ‘very exciting’ by Ian Wright – will be viewed, in the eyes of Postecoglou, as a player who can operate right across the front line.
The main factor here is that Johnson has blistering pace, something completely different to Tottenham’s other attacking options.
Postecoglou will believe that Johnson can give so much flexibility to Spurs in the final third.
In some games, Johnson can play down the right flank instead of Dejan Kulusevski. In others, he could be Tottenham’s central striker, or he could play on the left and allow Son Heung-min to play up top.
That flexibility and fluidity will appeal so much to Postecoglou and when you add in that Johnson is a homegrown talent, Spurs will think they are onto a winner here.
