Transfer News: Chelsea enter race for Tottenham Hotspur target Sam Johnstone
According to Simon Phillips (h/t Hartlepool Mail), Chelsea have entered the race to secure the services of West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone, who is a transfer target for Tottenham Hotspur. He could be in line to jump up to the Premier League as his side’s chances of promotion are looking slimmer by each matchday.
Tottenham have already been linked with a move to sign Johnstone ahead of the summer transfer window. Pierluigi Gollini’s future at N17 is in uncertain waters at this moment amidst their interest to secure his signature after this season. He has not shown any major signs to warrant keeping him at the club for longer.
The Blues have now expressed their interest in signing the 28-year-old, adding more trouble to Spurs. West Ham United are also keeping tabs on his situation, which paves the way for a very interesting transfer window at the end of the current campaign.
Damning blow?
Gollini is currently on loan with us from Atalanta, and we have the option to make the temporary move permanent at the end of this term. However, we would need to spend an expensive sum of £12.9million for someone who would be behind Hugo Lloris in the pecking order. That is not feasible in a case where we have to rebuild our squad in a lot of areas.
As such, we need to be smart with our business in the future transfer windows in our attempt to back Antonio Conte. Hence, allowing Gollini to return to Italy would be wise under the current circumstances, especially when Johnstone is on the shortlist of potential targets.
That is further emphasised when considering how the West Bromwich goalkeeper has less than six months left in his current deal. The prospect of signing him would be much better than spending the relatively expensive amount to finalise a permanent transfer for Gollini.
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Moreover, Johnstone also excelled during his short stint in the Premier League last season. That has been the case this campaign, having earned 12 clean sheets from 29 appearances in the Championship. His quality has made him a contender for England’s first-choice keeper, further solidifying how we could have a solid addition to the team for cheap.
With Lloris recently extending his current contract to 2024, Johnstone could be that man to play a backup role initially. Who knows, maybe the latter can even take over the number one spot if the skipper does show some signs of decline in the future. After all, that is natural, looking at him being 35 years of age. So let’s wait and see what lies in store for us regarding our pursuit to sign the Championship ace.
