Player Watch Player Watch: Brennan Johnson

[HildoSpur]

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.

I think he starts ahead of Deki personally. Mainly because he has pace and we severely lack that at the moment.

 

[ButchCassidy]

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.

To be fair if Alex Scott cost £50m there would have been a lot more raised eyebrows there.

 

[JayB]

I think he starts ahead of Deki personally. Mainly because he has pace and we severely lack that at the moment.

I really don't see it. The wingers in Ange's setup need to be able to beat their man and create for others. Johnson is a terrible dribbler, ranking in the 11th percentile for take-on success rate. In other words, nine out of every ten wingers in Europe was more effective in beating his man last season than Johnson.

Raw pace is useful in a counterattacking side but we aren't a counterattacking side anymore. Nothing about Johnson's game would have made a difference against Brentford IMO.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

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.

The difference being is that we are pretty well stocked at CM with good players so we wouldn’t actually need Scott to come in and improve on them. Our forward line on the other hand are good no doubt but IMO after loosing the best striker in the world could do with an upgrade.

Look if we were bringing in Johnson alongside Dusan OR Chiesa say (hypothetically) then I think pretty much everyone would be more amenable to signing him but as it is he will very likely be our only attacking addition and that for me personally isn’t good enough. Even IF we also brought in Orban I don’t think we are actually improving our front line just bringing in more bodies.

 

[Rob]

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.

Scott - £20m in a position we aren't desperate for and who likely wouldn't be in the first team (same as Veliz).
Johnson - £50m in a position that we are desperate for

He needs to be walking into the starting 11 for that kind of figure and he won't be.

 

[KingNick]

Impossible to know but when Ange tells the analysts his requirements for WF players, I would be quite confident that the first two are pace and technical ability. In combination, this kid probably does better in the data than both Son and Deki for what Ange looks for. He is also premier league experienced and coachable.

I think £40-50m sounds scary as its for a Forest player and would be quite high on the list for the fees we have ever paid. But i do think there's less risk than some of the players we have been linked with from much lesser teams/leagues.

Ange also likes players who are ambitious and want to move up and have gone through the lower levels.

 

[Albertbarich]

Am I missing something or is all this just from a Daily Mail article?

 

[Ghost Hardware]

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.

Really? Tbh I feel like the Maddison and Scott threads were both pretty abundant with positive talk. Even tho most thought Eze wouldn’t make sense because of his position I think the majority of posters rated him, in fact most wanted Olise. In fact if I go into the David thread who’s the latest big money non HG transfer target it’s more negative than positive. Lautaro thread is another example, plenty of people saying he’s overrated even tho he’s averaging more goals per min than any other striker in Europes top leagues in 2023. I feel like we have gone past the stage of HG means unexciting quite a while ago. If anything people have been saying if Johnson was non HG we probably wouldn’t look twice at him. There are very very few threads these days which are completely positive, I mean even the Mbappe thread had serious posts saying it would be a bad signing if it happened. The negativity I’m seeing towards Johnson is mostly about him not being an upgrade on what we have especially with the departure of Kane.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Am I missing something or is all this just from a Daily Mail article?

It’s all from the Daily Mail article but most spurs journalists have said at one time or another that we are likely to move for Johnson.

 

[KingNick]

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.

It's lucky clubs have access to better data sources than all this publicly available stuff that people rely on then. And that they can view every single action and determine its qualitative value in the relevant circumstances.

 

[N'Obody]

If we can get him for £30m and send them a player then everyone wins I reckon. Whilst I understand a lot don’t want him, he’s PL proven, Orban and David aren’t. He’s not a fancy foreign name but it looks like he’ll be the desperation last moment of the window purchase.

(I wouldn’t be that surprised though if we manage to move a load out if we get him and Orban).

I agree with this take. Definitely don't want to pay 50 mil but if it can be done for 30 mil plus some or one of our deadwood, I'm all for it.

Rather pay 30 mil for him over orban, as Johnson is at least proven in the prem to an extent, even with a very rubbish Forest team. At 22 he's got plenty potential to be tapped into by the right manager.

Personally feel Ange is the man for bringing out the best in Johnson. He has the raw ingredients to be a top winger or CF. We are lacking some serious pace in our team and I for one think he can genuinely displace Kulusevski or Richarlison. Can't underestimate how important pace is in the right system.

P.s he is a fancy foreign player from Wales .

 

[rawhide]

.P.s he is a fancy foreign player from Wales .

We have previous with pacy underrated Welsh players…

 

[arunspurs]

'Johnsson wouldnt make the XI in our side ; why are we paying 50m for a bench player'

The whole premise of this opinion is that it is based of assumption that, Johnsson is not a good player and cannot fit to Ange system and deliver.

If that premise is wrong, then the whole argument falls through. At the moment, our both starting XI wingers are not the Ange type wingers - so scope for improvement for Sonny, Kulu in themselves is huge.

I see Johnson performance in a poor , 33% possession Forest side (who scored just 38 goals last season) as a positive. Its hard sometimes to differentiate between a player performance & his teams performance.

Of late, our scouts & signings been on the mark. From whatever I have seen of Johnson in PL and recent uptick in signings hit rate, I am more than fine if we make this signing

 

[Jiminio]

Spoke to a forest fan fwiw and his view is that Cooper’s system doesn’t suit Johnson. So much so he’s not even always first choice. He said be interesting to see how he does in a side with more possession

 

[spursn17]

I think this would be a super signing, in a team who have most possession and play with width this is the type of player we need in the squad, look how he performed in the championship when Forest dominated a lot of the games, the young man has talent...and I dont think we will be seeing anyone being signed who Ange hasn't approved...

 

[GioW]

 

[nedley]

£30m + Spence

So basically 50m

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Matheus Nunes: Wolves turn down £47m bid from Manchester City

Manchester City have turned their attention to the Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Matheus Nunes and Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze after ending their pursuit of Lucas Paquetá.

www.thetimes.co.uk

Spurs want £40m-rated Johnson​

Tottenham Hotspur will try to secure the signing of Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson with a cash-plus-player deal (Tom Roddy writes).

Forest are looking for a fee of about £40 million for the Wales forward, who is also wanted by West Ham United. Chelsea had considered making a move for the 22-year-old this summer but have withdrawn their interest after it was understood that the player’s preference would be a move to Tottenham.

Forest have already rejected a £35 million offer for Johnson from Brentford this summer, a deal that would have broken the west London club’s transfer record. Forest have struggled to land the transfer targets intended to strengthen Steve Cooper’s squad this summer but are resigned to the likelihood that Johnson, who scored ten goals for them last season, will leave.


Tottenham will look to exchange fringe members from their squad to convince Forest to complete the move, which would help to cut the size of Ange Postecoglou’s large group of about 35 players.

Forest are keen on adding centre backs and Davinson Sánchez, Tottenham’s 27-year-old Colombia defender, is one of the possible figures to be involved in a deal.

Tottenham will suggest other options but are also willing to complete a cash-only deal. They are looking to reinvest the money made through the £94.5 million sale of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich and want to add goals and pace to Postecoglou’s attacking options.

Spurs have so far signed James Maddison from Leicester City, Pedro Porro from Sporting Lisbon, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli and Alejo Véliz from Rosario Central. They are still looking to sell Hugo Lloris, the former club captain, while Sergio Reguilón and Japhet Tanganga could also leave.

 

[Tucker]

We have previous with pacy underrated Welsh players…

Simon Davies

 

[Colonel_Klinck]

£30m + Dier?