This isn’t the first time we’ve seen rumors about Tottenham possibly selling Brennan Johnson, but it’s by far the most prominent source. The BBC’s Sami Mokbel writes today that Tottenham Hotspur are open to the idea of selling Johnson in the January transfer window, and will listen to any offers with Crystal Palace among those expressing interest.
Johnson was Spurs’ top scorer last season with 18 goals in all competitions, including the winning goal in the Europa League final, but he’s found himself on the outside looking in under Thomas Frank with just three goals in about 800 minutes of match competition. Johnson was purchased to be an ideal winger for Ange Postecoglou and lived up to that hype with a limited but direct play style that was about making runs to the back post and converting chances. But that’s not what Thomas Frank is looking for in a winger.
Mockbel writes that the club isn’t actively trying to sell Johnson, but they’ll be open to letting him leave if a good offer comes their way. Palace is viewed as the club expressing the most interest, but there are unnamed other clubs that are “monitoring” his status.
Far be it from me to re-start the Johnson Wars on this website dot com, but there’s certainly arguments to be made about Johnson’s suitability going forward. To be frank (pun intended), Spurs probably missed an opportunity to sell Johnson at his peak value this past summer, as he was coming off a very good season and it’s quite possible that not playing much this fall has impacted his value. But Spurs are also probably right to listen to offers; he’ll probably still command a good price and could be a very good pickup for a club like Palace mid-season.
The downside to selling Johnson is his status as an association-trained player for European roster construction, but Spurs are already hurting in that area, will be in a much better position next season, and losing Johnson shouldn’t significantly impact what they want to do if they make it to the next round of the Champions League.