West Bromwich Albion journalist Joe Masi has been sharing his thoughts on Sam Johnstone and the possibility of the Baggies goalkeeper leaving the club during the upcoming summer transfer window.
This comes after Masi made an appearance on a recent episode of the Express & Star’s West Brom-themed podcast, Baggies Broadcast, where he spoke about a range of subjects concerning the Midlands club.
After it was recently reported in an article from The Athletic that West Brom are “willing to sell” Johnstone this summer if they fail to keep their place in the Premier League for next season and that a fee of between £7.5 million and £10 million would be a “realistic figure” for the club to look to get for the shot-stopper, Masi had this to say on the matter. (46.09)
He said: “It’s not really fair to keep Sam Johnstone if a Premier League club is knocking on the door with £10 million to £12 million. It’s not really fair to keep him. His salary is going to be cut by 40% or 50% in the summer if we go down.
“He’s in the England squad. He’s done so much for the club. It’s not right for the club to say, ‘I’ll tell you what, we need money, but we’re not going to sell you, you’re going to have to just take a pay cut, and then we’ll just let you leave for nothing next year.’
“It’s just not going to work out like that. I think the bottom line is that it would be the right thing to do to let him go if Albion go down, because A, they can’t afford to lose him for free in 12 months, B, they’re going to need some money in and C, Johnson deserves it, he’s in the England squad, he’s not going to get back in the England squad playing in the Championship next season.”
The Baggies signed Johnstone during in the 2018 summer transfer window from fellow Premier League club Manchester United in a deal worth a reported fee of £6.62 million.
Since then, the 28-year-old, who is currently valued at £5.4 million, has made 123 appearances for the Baggies across all competitions, in which he has conceded 166 goals and kept 29 clean sheets along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Joe Masi’s comments on Johnstone and a potential summer exit from West Brom…
Given how Johnstone is the only West Brom player to have played every single minute of action for Sam Allardyce’s side in the Premier League so far this season shows that he has been a key figure in the side despite them being in the relegation zone.
As well as this, the fact that Johnstone was included in the latest England squad for their previous international fixtures as Masi mentioned, shows just how impressive he has been this season and why there could be teams interested in signing him this summer if West Brom do go down.
Do you think West Brom should sell Johnstone this summer if a decent offer came in?
Yes
No
In our view, unless Johnstone wants to stay at West Brom if they do get relegated, then the club should not stand in his way of a potential summer exit if they manage to find a club that would be willing to pay what they would see as a suitable transfer fee for the Englishman.
In other news: ‘They’ve missed a trick’ – Journalist raves over ‘quality’ £5.4m-rated West Brom ace