Sam Johnstone could stay at West Brom next season
Sam Johnstone’s immediate future could be at West Brom as West Ham pulled the plug on signing him.
The Hammers had a £6million bid rejected for the goalkeeper and decided not to pursue his services any further. [Sky Sports]
Instead, they opted to sign Alphonse Areola.
According to Express and Star reporter Luke Hatfield, clubs may opt against paying a transfer fee for the Euro 2020 goalkeeper as he will be available on a free at the end of next season.
His contract at the Hawthorns runs out in 2022 and if the club do not find a buyer or extend his contract, he would leave for free in 12 months.
Speaking to Transfer Tavern about his future, Hatfield said, “Yeah, there is always that opportunity because clubs will look at it and say ‘why should we pay money for you now when in a year’s time, you’re out of contract and we can sign you for free?’
“The risk that they play then, of course, is that the summer comes and then there are six or seven clubs interested in Sam Johnstone and all of a sudden, you’ve got to offer improved terms over all of those.
“You’ll maybe end up paying more wages than you’d hope to for him and a signing-on fee as well. Although you don’t pay a transfer fee, you’ll probably shell out a pretty hefty signing-on fee for him.”
Wouldn’t mind that
While a player of Johnstone’s calibre going on a free would not be good business, if he’s at the club for a year and helps get us back to the Premier League, the revenue generated from it will be far greater than what we would expect from his sale.
Signing a keeper of his abilities in the Championship is never going to be easy and if we don’t sign anyone, which is the likelier option, then David Button would probably be starting in goal for the entirety of the season.
It’s important that we sort out his future soon as going into a new campaign with these kinds of uncertainties is never a good thing.
Either way, it will be a good move for the club, but we would prefer him to stay and give us one last hurrah before he’s free to move wherever he wants to go.
In other West Brom news, Tom Ross shares what Ismael told him today about Pereira situation at West Brom after statement
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