Tottenham are reportedly exploring the idea of a potential summer move for Manchester United academy graduate Sam Johnstone, currently on loan at Aston Villa.
According to The Sun, Manchester United could lose one of their academy graduates in the summer, with Sam Johnstone a summer target for Tottenham. Spurs are looking to bring Johnstone, who is currently on loan at Aston Villa, to serve as the deputy to first-choice and club captain Hugo Lloris.
Sam Johnstone was always earmarked, right from his academy days, as a player destined to have a successful career, be it at Manchester United or away from his boyhood club. With Jose Mourinho having a plethora of goalkeeping options at his disposal, Sam Johnstone was sent on a season long loan to Aston Villa, which has seen his stock skyrocket.
19 clean sheets in 40 appearances is a good record but it is his maturity between the posts combined with his reflexes and goalkeeping ability that is interesting a lot of top clubs. Arsenal, Chelsea and others have already been reported to be monitoring the player’s development closely.
And with Johnstone’s Manchester United contract set to expire at the end of the season, the clubs are lining up in order to secure his future years to their respective selves. While Aston Villa are also a suitor, the current reports have listed Tottenham as the newest entrant in the race for Johnstone.
Tottenham do not have any options beyond Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm, especially with Paulo Gazzaniga not featuring much for Spurs. The latter has not performed up to the mark and could look to move in search of regular first-team football. With the veteran already 34, Spurs are looking to replace Vorm with Johnstone, who would serve as the deputy to club captain Hugo Lloris.
The idea behind this could also be to bring in a young promising goalkeeper, groom him under Lloris before he is finally ready to take over from the French international, should the club captain end up leaving Tottenham.
Sam Johnstone on his future at United: “If you leave, then the one downside is that you haven’t done that despite being there since you were 10.” 1/2 #mufc #mulive
— True United (@united_true) April 12, 2018
Manchester United would ideally, want to keep a hold of their academy graduate, who has looked impressive during his season-long loan at Aston Villa thus far. But, with David De Gea, Sergio Romero and Joel Castro Pereira already at Jose’s disposal, combined with the fact that new arrival Matej Kovar has already trained with the first-team means that Johnstone will be playing a peripheral role at Old Trafford or mostly be sent out on loan again.
Even if Romero departs, Johnstone is unlikely to be made the deputy to De Gea, with Pereira on the books as well – a prospect Spurs are ready to offer. Johnstone will be available on a free transfer come the end of the season and the Manchester United academy product seems destined to be the next one to fail to make the jump from being a player earmarked for first-team to actually being a regular part of the first-team setup at Old Trafford.
