Brennan Johnson travelled to Barbados with his family earlier this summer and visited the Caribbean island’s famous market in Oistins.
It is on the coast, and at weekends visitors can enjoy live music, cocktails and Barbados’ special dish of grilled or fried flying fish while looking out at beautiful views of the sea. Over two months after he scored the winning goal for Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final and then paraded the trophy through north London with his team-mates, on what was his 24th birthday, Johnson still feels like he is flying.
“It’s an amazing memory,” the winger tells a group of journalists, including The Athletic, at an event in Hong Kong on Spurs’ pre-season Asian tour. “It opened my eyes to how big the club is. We experience the sold-out stadium every week, but then when you do these parades and you keep going further away, no one is going anywhere. You get more and more people. The energy was so high. It was a special day.”
Johnson will never be forgotten by Tottenham supporters thanks to his scrappy strike in Bilbao against Manchester United (he insists he touched the ball after it spun up off United defender Luke Shaw following Pape Matar Sarr’s cross), and finished the campaign as their top goalscorer in all competitions, with 18. However, there were also some testing moments for the Wales international throughout the season. Last September, he temporarily deleted his social media accounts after receiving abuse. A few days later, he scored a dramatic winner in stoppage time against Coventry City in the Carabao Cup and barely celebrated.
“Last season was like a rollercoaster,” Johnson says. “There were so many different emotions. It taught me so much about football. Not just on the pitch but off it. How you spend your spare time and who you spend it with, how you get on with your team, speaking to people. It takes a while to find a balance.
“I wouldn’t have last season any different than it was. I learned and improved a lot. Won as a team, lost a lot of games as well. I don’t think this season will be like last season with the ups and downs. It was an important season for my development.”
Johnson was speaking at a session organised by family literacy charity Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, which inspires young people to read, as part of Spurs’ traditional support for local charitable organisations on overseas tours.
Compared to other wingers in the Premier League, Johnson rarely takes players on. Previous Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou’s system was about creating first-time shooting opportunities for him and Son Heung-min by encouraging the full-backs to overlap and fire crosses towards the penalty spot. It worked, because Johnson scored 11 goals in 33 top-flight appearances last season, but at times it felt like he was not involved enough in matches.
“On the ball, I want to be better in one-v-one dribbling situations,” he says. “I look back at last season and I was always trying to improve on it, and I think I did towards the end. Directness. More of a forward-thinking mentality from me and scoring goals. I scored a lot off one touch. I’m trying to improve my left foot and (shooting) off the dribble. It’s about trying to get an overall better game.”
Johnson has a close relationship with Son, who probably played his final game for Spurs in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. Johnson scored the goal and copied his departing team-mate’s ‘camera’ celebration in tribute. He has found it invaluable working with the South Korean forward, who scored 127 Premier League goals and registered 71 assists across his 10 years with the club.
“I’m a right-footed player who played on the right last season,” Johnson says, speaking a few days before Son announced his desire to leave. “He is both-footed and has helped me with little techniques on how to improve my left. He is a great player, so it is impossible to learn everything he does. He does it at such a high level. His career speaks for itself. How amazing and professional he is.”
Such is the bond between the pair that when Spurs faced Brighton on the final day of last season, Johnson wore a pair of boots Son had designed. They were inscribed with the latter’s name, but the Welshman made a cheeky modification.
“I remember when he first showed me the picture that he was getting his own shoe last year,” Johnson says. “A long time before they came out. I said to him, ‘Can I have some?’. Then they were released in April, I went into training one day, and the boots were there. I love Sonny. He is a great guy.
“The shoes are cool and he is my friend. They were white, red and blue, so matched the kit. It was his idea (to add Johnson’s name). I probably won’t wear them again, but if he gets a new boot in the future, I will.”
In the summer of 2023, Johnson was ready to leave Nottingham Forest, and he had a couple of different options.
Thomas Frank tried to persuade him to join his Brentford side, who had come close to signing him on multiple occasions across a two-year period but could never agree a deal with Forest, but he instead moved to Spurs in a £47.5million ($63m at the current rate) deal. Johnson and Frank are now finally working together, after the latter succeeded Postecoglou in June. The Danish manager has used a 4-2-3-1 formation throughout Tottenham’s programme of pre-season friendlies and Johnson has appeared on both wings.
“He was always someone who impressed me, even though I never played under him,” Johnson says. “Lots of people could respect how Brentford played, how hard they were to beat, and the quality they had in attacking areas. He took them to become an established Premier League team (after promotion in 2021). It shows what kind of development he can do, and we are all excited.”
Matt Wells is the only member of Postecoglou’s backroom staff still at the club. Spurs have hired a specialist set-piece coach in Andreas Georgson, and Cameron Campbell has been appointed to the new role of individual-development (IDP) coach. Frank takes responsibility for coaching the attacking unit along with Justin Cochrane, who has followed him across London from Brentford and made a strong impression.
“Justin is a great coach,” Johnson says. “His drills are realistic to games. He is good at working on finishes that people do. It feels like it is almost instinct. He practises on getting the contact right. A lot of finishing, dribbling, movement, which is important. We have such good attacking options and it’s nice to learn from the people you are with and see how they like to score.”
The change that will have the biggest impact on Johnson is the arrival of Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United in a deal worth £50million. Kudus operates as a No 10 for Ghana’s national team but was primarily used on the right at West Ham, where he would cut inside onto his stronger left foot. Last season, he attempted the second-most take-ons per 90 minutes (7.2) in the Premier League, and had the second-highest successful take-ons per game (3.2) among players in the division with at least 75 attempts.
“I’ve been really impressed with him, and he is a nice guy,” Johnson says. “Last season, there were quite a few games when I don’t think we even had 11 first-team players (because of injuries). Getting as much quality as we can is important and it is what we need because we are in the Champions League and want to go far in all competitions. It wasn’t just a one-off thing. We want to be in the Champions League every year. It’s nice to have options, different styles, and versatility in the squad.”
One player who will not be joining Tottenham this summer is Johnson’s former team-mate Morgan Gibbs-White. Spurs made an offer of £60million, which matched his release clause, but Forest reported them to the Premier League for an illegal approach. The England international signed a new three-year contract at the City Ground last month that makes him the best-paid player in their history.
“I haven’t (spoken to Gibbs-White), because I knew his phone would be all over the place,” Johnson says. “I didn’t want to put more pressure on him or anything. Morgan is a great guy. We got on really well and I wish him all the best.”
After a week on tour in Hong Kong and South Korea, Frank’s plan for the new season is coming together.
Johnson was a crucial player under Postecoglou and, despite the arrival of Kudus, looks set to be just as important to his new boss.
(Top photo: Rob Newell/Getty Images)