West Brom must sell Sam Johnstone this summer or risk losing him on a free
West Brom technical director Luke Dowling must make the difficult decision to sell Sam Johnstone in the summer as he could leave on a free the following year.
Johnstone is highly-rated and his stock has risen due to his recent England call-up.
In recent days Tottenham have been linked to the goalkeeper [The Sun], who told The Athletic last month that he is keen to play in the Premier League.
As a result, Johnstone may be unhappy if we keep him beyond the summer, as we are likely to be playing Championship football.
In order to bounce back we need every player pulling in the right direction – we cannot have a stroppy senior player disrupting the squad.
That is not the main reason to sell Johnstone, however.
As mentioned, his stock is high currently with Gary Lineker a big fan of the shot-stopper.
He described Johnstone as “outstanding” so if we sell him in the summer it is not unreasonable to demand a fee of around £15-£20million for the 27-year-old.
Contrast that to losing Johnstone on a free when his contract expires in June 2022.
His transfer fee could go a long way to improving other areas of the squad, with midfield and attack in need of a revamp due to the players we will lose at the end of the season.
£20m goes a long way in terms of loan fees and wages – if Sam Allardyce or another manager is to rebuild we need that kind of income.
After all, Lai demonstrated in January that he is unlikely to spend big.
Moreover, we have a number of goalkeeping options to call upon in place of Johnstone, including David Button – a proven Championship keeper – as well as Alex Palmer and highly-rated youngster Josh Griffiths.
It is always a shame to see a top-quality player leave but the club must come first and in this case Johnstone’s exit would benefit us both short and long-term.
That means Lai must cash in and reinvest the funds back into the squad.
In other West Brom news, an exiled Baggie explains Hawthorns hell and aims dig at Slaven Bilic.
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