Journalist Dean Jones has claimed that Ben Johnson will not leave West Ham United despite other clubs showing interest.
This campaign for Ben Johnson has been a bit of a break-out year having featured in 16 Premier League games, which has already passed his tally of 14 for last season. He has featured even more regularly in recent times having started in the last seven games for the Hammers, which can be partly down to Vladimir Coufal’s injury.
Johnson reportedly wasn’t happy with his initial 6-year deal as he decided to turn it down, but the club activated a contract extension last month which keeps him at the club until 2024.
With other Premier League clubs showing interest in the 22-year-old, Dean Jones told GIVEMESPORT that he believes Johnson is happy and won’t depart in the summer.
“I don’t think there’s any chance that he leaves in the summer. I think that he’s happy where he is and that extension just cements the fact that he is part of their plans. Extending his contract buys everybody a little time to figure out exactly how they move forward,” Jones said
TIF Thoughts on Ben Johnson…
Ben Johnson’s impressive performances this season have led to him being praised by former players such as Stuart Pearce after the Hammers were unbeaten in Johnson’s first six games that he had started in. Johnson has an average of 2.5 clearances per game and has made zero errors that have led to opposition goals, as per Sofascore.
Johnson’s market value is currently set at £2.7 million by Transfermarkt, but if another club wants to acquire his services then they will now doubt have to pay a significantly larger fee than this.
Indeed, regular playing time is what will no doubt be on the mind of Ben Johnson, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens from here on in when Vladimir Coufal returns.