Championship team boss claims 29-year-old Spurs target likely to leave this summer

West Brom boss Steve Bruce says Tottenham Hotspur target Sam Johnstone likely to leave this summer

West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Bruce has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur target Sam Johnstone is likely to leave them in the summer transfer window. The goalkeeper has attracted attention from several Premier League clubs as a result, which could be a sign of things to follow.

Johnstone is highly unlikely to sign a contract extension with West Bromwich Albion, which means that he will leave as a free agent after this season. Tottenham are one of the interested parties in this transfer race, and they are also stated to be the frontrunners at this moment.

Spurs would undoubtedly be boosted by Bruce’s latest revelation, as the manager has pretty much confirmed what lies in store regarding the 29-year-old’s future. Speaking in the post-match presser after the loss to Stoke City (h/t BirminghamLive), he has mentioned that the shot-stopper will probably leave them this summer.

“The likelihood is that Sam is going to leave.”

Spurs handed initiative!

This update should give the North Londoners the license to push forward with a free transfer at the end of the current campaign. Signing the Englishman would be a great prospect, considering how we do need to find a reliable replacement for Hugo Lloris moving forward.

Lloris’ first-half display against Aston Villa showcases his importance to our team as he helped to keep the scoreline 1-0 at the break. We eventually won the match 4-0, which indicates how important it is for us to plan for the future by protecting our interests.

Pierluigi Gollini has not shown any indications to warrant that he can do that job for us. Hence, the club should let him return to Atalanta once his loan spell at N17 ends this summer. It would not have been feasible for us to keep hold of the loanee past this season, either.

After all, we would need to exercise a £12.9million buy option to keep hold of Gollini for the next term. That is perhaps not ideal, especially when we can sign Johnstone for free and use that money to bolster the other areas in the squad that need reinforcements.

Hence, we remain hopeful that Fabio Paratici can complete Johnstone’s signing. However, we cannot be lethargic because of the advantage as Newcastle United and Manchester United also pose competition in our pursuit of securing his services. Despite the competition, fans can hope that Johnstone gives Spurs some consideration.

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Hugo Lloris cannot keep playing forever and is arguably in the latter stages of his playing career. We will surely need a long-term successor for him and Johnstone, having ample experience of playing in England, could be that man.