West Bromwich Albion journalist and podcaster Adrian Goldberg has been sharing his thoughts on Baggies goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and his future at The Hawthorns.
This comes after Goldberg co-hosted the latest edition of The Liquidator, a West Brom-themed podcast where he spoke about a range of topics concerning the Midlands club.
On the subject of Johnstone, who is apparently in talks with the club over a potential new contract, Goldberg had this to say on the matter.
He said: “Obviously, it’s fantastic news that Sam Johnstone might be signing a new contract with us.
“I suspect he will wait until the transfer window is closed before signing that new contract.
“If he does get the chance to move to a Premier League club, because he has handled the situation so much better than [Matheus] Pereira and his agent did, I don’t think anybody would begrudge Johnstone a move to a Premier League club – he’d go with the applause of the 25,000 fans inside The Hawthorns rippling to his ears.
“But, if we can keep him, obviously, at one level, it’s a disadvantage to the club because he’s one of the few saleable assets now that we’ve got, and it seems that the Pereira money might not materialise, for whatever reason, into spending.
“So Johnstone is the last asset, if you like, that we can sell and potentially spend the money from in a transfer window.
“I think there’s a slightly mixed thing about him staying, but purely from a football point of view and as a fan, I’m delighted that he’s staying, if he does stay, and my suspicion is that he probably will.”
West Brom signed Johnstone in the 2018 summer transfer window from Premier League side Manchester United for a fee of £6.62 million.
Since then, the 28-year-old, who is currently valued at £7.2 million, has made 132 appearances for the Baggies across all competitions, in which he has conceded 185 goals and kept 30 clean sheets in the process during his time at the club.
TIF Thoughts on Adrian Goldberg’s comments on Johnstone and his future at West Brom…
Taking into account what Goldberg had to say, it seems as though the club may, at one point, have had to decide whether or not to cash in on Johnstone this summer and use the money to strengthen their squad elsewhere, or offer Johnstone a new deal and keep him at the club for the foreseeable future beyond his current deal, which is set to expire next summer.
Would you rather see Johnstone sign a new contract or sold this summer?
Sign a new contract
Sell and cash in
Given the previously mentioned claim that the Englishman is in talks over potentially signing a new contract with the Baggies, this suggests to us that the club decided that Johnstone is more valuable to them than to potentially cash in on him, given the reported interest from West Ham United.
In our view, Johnstone should definitely sign a new deal with the Baggies so he can help them win promotion back to the Premier League this season and perhaps take them even further if he feels the club have the ambitions to do that.
In other news: ‘There is no way’ – Goldberg drops claim on £1.8m-rated West Brom figure