Player Watch Player Watch: Brennan Johnson

[spursfan77]

The only way I'll be okay with this is if Forest take some of our deadwood on inflated fees in part exchange.

Let's say it's £15-20m plus Spence (permanent) and Dier (loan to see out his contract), I could live with that. So long as we keep our powder dry for significant investment elsewhere in the squad.

I'll be furious if this deal represents the spending of the Kane money.

The actual article mentions Sanchez

 

[coy-spurs1882]

Don't get the hate here, young talented player with plenty of pace and plenty of room to improve. Has a high ceiling and all the attributes to work in Anges team. I know its not eye catching but he also works his bollo*** off and is quick to press.

Maybe people are not convinced with him and expressing their reservation instead of "hate"?

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

It's not about wanting him or not. I wanted Maddison even though he is clearly a Levy buy because he is a good player which improves our starting 11. Johnson is not such a player imo

If you watched the post match interview Ange did with Sky after the Man U win you will see that he was very prickly with the presenter who implied he doesn’t have full control on who the clubs signs, so I’m pretty sure he’s a manager who won’t accept 50m club signings for the sake of keeping his job.

 

[ReadieSpur]

This is such and underwhelming link. Meh.

 

[zicomerc]

£30m + Spence

Wishful thinking, Forest have signed another right back today Gonzalo Montiel who played in the final for Argentina in the World Cup, and already have Serge Aurier, Giulian Biancone, Neco Williams.

I dont think they need a 5th right back.

 

[rjm14]

Maybe hate was the wrong word, still don't get the negativity, he's 21 and had a decent season for a struggling team. I'm not sure what our fans won't, man we love a moan. Yawn

 

[kursaal]

If we consider Anthony Gordon left Everton for £45 million, Johnson for £30 million plus Spence would be a comparable deal.

 

[Wick3d]

I'm all for it, but only if this is an Ange choice. If Levy is driving this one, then no thanks.

 

[rjm14]

Some sensible posts indicating he might not be my choice but trusting Ange/scouting. Don't get people just dismissing him. He's 21 and obv not the finished article, but he has all the raw attributes to be a real weapon when fully developed

 

[Jiminio]

They’ve literally just signed a right back so be surprised if they want Spence

 

[KingNick]

The only way I'll be okay with this is if Forest take some of our deadwood on inflated fees in part exchange.

Let's say it's £15-20m plus Spence (permanent) and Dier (loan to see out his contract), I could live with that. So long as we keep our powder dry for significant investment elsewhere in the squad.

I'll be furious if this deal represents the spending of the Kane money.

Giving them loans is fine, although not long term benefit to them so not a massive reason for them to discount the Brennan fee. Likewise, giving them a play on a permanent deal and expecting a discount would get tricky as the player would no doubt want a relegation clause so, again, it would be hard for them to know exactly what value they would be getting in order to then discount the Brennan fee.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

I totally agree with your points.

If I were to try and find logic other than the HG angle however:

- Born in the same year as Troy Parrott. If Parrott had 19 goals in all comps (mostly championship), then another 10 in all comps (mostly PL) then I think our supporters would have create some buzz around him and say give him a chance. I guess what I'm trying to say is that he can certainly still improve.

- In his comps it looks like he can shoot/finish with both feet. I wonder if Ange would consider him as both cover to Kulu but also a CF in the mould of Kyogo, who has pace and is smaller in build.

- I saw a stat (I'll have to try and dig it up) that over 40% of his shots are on target. I just checked this and see that Johnson had 27 SOT of his 55 shots, good for 49%. Kane finished with about 48% last season, although he had the most shots and SOT in the league (63 SOT, 130 Shots).

So it's possible our scouting team in combination with what Ange wants sees something there? But trust me, I totally get your points. I wanted and expected more, and although he's always looked an exciting player to me, I haven't seen much worse FBref charts before! haha

The highlighted part is key tbh. If we get him he will 100% cover both and I very much doubt we will get another forward this window be that a striker or a WF. He kills four birds with one stone - CF, WF, HG and getting rid of surplus players.

The one thing that isn’t factored in is how well he actually fits the system or fills a skill gap that is currently lacking in our team. As I said, for me he’s not better than any of our current options bar Gil. But also, tbh I’d quite like to see Gil given a chance with Ange anyway.

 

[amathews3416]

For whatever reason people tend not to rate British player in the PL and would rather gamble on a player from a foreign league over one that has done the business here. Maddison was a great example. Though a good majority were excited for the signing you still had a good amount on here that thought he was shit with a bad attitude.

You could repackage Johnson with same stats in another league with a 5 minute YouTube clip and people would convince themselves he is the making of the next great star. Heck, we just were linked with the kid who had played 1/2 a year in the Danish league and apparently was going to solve our Winger problem. The reality is, a player like Johnson, even at the quoted fee, is much more less of a risk with a higher probability of success based off his track record in this country.

 

[KaribYid]

Worth considering that we now have an actual coach who will improve players so rather than judging potential signings solely on what they are right now, consider their potential for improvement under Ange.

 

[rjm14]

amathews.... far too sensible post for this board

 

[matty74]

Yeah we can forget them signing Spence now after signing a World Cup winning Right back

 

[thfc1989]

For whatever reason people tend not to rate British player in the PL and would rather gamble on a player from a foreign league over one that has done the business here. Maddison was a great example. Though a good majority were excited for the signing you still had a good amount on here that thought he was shit with a bad attitude.

You could repackage Johnson with same stats in another league with a 5 minute YouTube clip and people would convince themselves he is the making of the next great star. Heck, we just were linked with the kid who had played 1/2 a year in the Danish league and apparently was going to solve our Winger problem. The reality is, a player like Johnson, even at the quoted fee, is much more less of a risk with a higher probability of success based off his track record in this country.

The majority on here were very against signing Grealish from Villa the season they went down. Having said that, I am not excited by this one at all unless using our deadwood

 

[JayB]

Maybe hate was the wrong word, still don't get the negativity, he's 21 and had a decent season for a struggling team. I'm not sure what our fans won't, man we love a moan. Yawn

I want a player who is an obvious upgrade on what we already have at the club, especially at the quoted price. If we sign him then I sincerely hope I'll be proven wrong, but I really don't think Johnson fits the bill.

Right now there are two obvious shortcomings in our attacking options: A striker to compete with Richarlison/Son up front, and a winger who can beat his man 1-v-1 and create chances for others. Johnson may nominally be able to play either position, but his stats suggest he'd be a mediocre option for the former and a genuinely woeful option for the latter.

Regarding his suitability for the striker role, Johnson underperformed his non-penalty xG last season -- in other words, he was a slightly below-average finisher. Fine for a bottom feeder such as Forest, but miles off of what we should be looking for.

Regarding his suitability as a winger, Johnson ranked in the first percentile for shot-creating actions last season. In other words, he was among the absolute worst wingers in the top leagues for creating chances for others. Perhaps some of that can be explained by Forest being such a poor team, but I guarantee that if you put Perisic or Manor Solomon (not to mention others we've been linked with such as Doku) in that side they'd still have been able to beat their man and dig out dangerous crosses at a rate that far eclipsed what Johnson offered.

I just don't see what he brings other than raw pace that would represent an upgrade over what we already have in place. That's not a £50m signing, not even close.

 

[SambaSpurs]

Alex Scott - Championship young player of the season 22/23 = Everyone falling over themselves for him.
Brennan Johnson - Championship young player of the season 21/22 - signing would be ‘a disgrace’.

It’s hard playing ST/Winger for a struggling team in this league and he acquitted himself well. 8 goals in 32 starts is a solid return. There is a lot to like about his game and a lot of potential to improve.

 

[KaribYid]

For whatever reason people tend not to rate British player in the PL and would rather gamble on a player from a foreign league over one that has done the business here. Maddison was a great example. Though a good majority were excited for the signing you still had a good amount on here that thought he was shit with a bad attitude.

You could repackage Johnson with same stats in another league with a 5 minute YouTube clip and people would convince themselves he is the making of the next great star. Heck, we just were linked with the kid who had played 1/2 a year in the Danish league and apparently was going to solve our Winger problem. The reality is, a player like Johnson, even at the quoted fee, is much more less of a risk with a higher probability of success based off his track record in this country.

Excitement of the unknown.

I remember it being like this on here from as far back as the Alderweireld transfer. Most PL-linked players are met with negativity (even more so if they're British) but any foreign player is the next big thing and is met with almost universal excitement. The more obscure the player, the more excited some get.

The only player we've signed from within the league that's been met with excitement recently was Bissouma and that's because he tore us a new one most times we played against him.