Sam Johnstone to miss the start of the season for West Brom
Valerien Ismael has confirmed that Sam Johnstone will miss the start of the season for West Brom, despite being back in training.
Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, the Baggies boss confirmed that “it is too early” for the England goalkeeper to come into contention for West Brom’s game against Bournemouth on Friday.
The 28-year-old returned to training late because he was part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the Euros and had been the subject of interest from West Ham. However, that didn’t go anywhere, and Johnstone has returned to training but won’t feature for the Baggies yet.
Ismael said: “It is too early for him to play straight.
“It is clear in that position if nothing happens, we don’t want to change anything from the early days. He needs some time to clear his situation.
“We will have some talks in the next few days, but at the minute, it is important to focus on the players who are available and have had a great pre-season so far. The squad is my focus for the game on Friday.”
Will Johnstone stay at the Hawthorns?
Last month the former Barnsley boss revealed that he expects the goalkeeper to leave the club this summer. However, after West Ham signed Alphonse Areola instead, it is unclear if Johnstone will leave or stay [the Independent].
Last season he made a staggering 166 saves but couldn’t prevent the Baggies from being relegated and was described as “brilliant” by former West Brom boss Sam Allardyce [talkSPORT].
However, judging by Ismael’s comments, if he does stay, he is going to have to work hard to get back into the team.
This is definitely the right thing to do, and it means that Johnstone is going to have to prove to Ismael that he does deserve to be back in the side as the first-choice goalkeeper.
Of course, he could still leave the Hawthorns this summer, but as it stands, he has returned to training and is going to have to force David Button out rather than just walk straight back into the side.
In other West Brom news, Matheus Pereira has breached his contract with the club.
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