We’re midway through December and so are officially past time for the expected glut of transfer rumors emerging from the wilds of Bat Country and slightly less bizarre transfer-related climes. So here’s one for you to ponder from Mike McGrath in the Telegraph (£) — apparently Brennan Johnson is a potential target for Crystal Palace when the window opens next month.
The article itself is beyond a paywall, but you really don’t need to read it since the above tweet pretty much gives it to you straight. In short: Crystal Palace need a wide forward, Brennan has been more or less bound to the bench at Spurs under Thomas Frank, ipso facto.
Now there are a couple of things working against people getting excited/fearful/whatever about this deal, depending on your personal opinion of Johnson — chiefly, McGrath writes that BJ is one player on a list of options, and so that doesn’t mean that they’ll move for him at all. Johnson was purchased for £47.5m a couple of seasons ago from Nottingham Forest, specifically to play for Ange Postecoglou’s high-tempo, high-offense system. And he came through last season, scoring 18 goals for the club including the Europa League winning goal in Bilbao.
But it appears under Thomas Frank he’s more of a misshapen puzzle piece of a player, and he’s been reduced to fewer minutes so far this season, especially after the summer signing of Mohammed Kudus. He’s also, as stated, an expensive player and while there aren’t really any indications from Spurs’ camp that he or the club are looking to move him on, it’s highly unlikely that Spurs would recoup his initial fee in January. In fact, if Spurs really wanted to dump Brennan they should’ve done so this summer when his stock was at his highest, possibly ever. A 24-year-old coming off an 18-goal season sells for a lot more than a 24-year-old coming off of an 18-goal season who has seen his minutes drastically reduced under a new manager over the first five months of the new campaign. Then again, you can also look at Brennan as a good player who Frank, for whatever reason, just doesn’t like, so maybe the dip in fee won’t be as dramatic.
Honestly, Palace might be a good spot for Johnson to land if he goes. Oliver Glasner plays fun, attractive football, and they seem like a club where BJ’s “no-dribble-just-back-post” style could really pop. But this rumor feels like the very beginning of something that may or may not happen.
Spurs could and should use the January window to do some critical refreshing and shoring up. The holes in the squad are obvious, and there will be opportunities to make some canny moves if they play their cards right. If Brennan moves on then Spurs will need another wide attacker, but I’m also not necessarily opposed to making this move if the deal is a good one and Spurs can identify a few more targets to bring in themselves.
