Brennan Johnson has hardly set the world alight at Crystal Palace, but Tottenham Hotspur could've done with an extra pair of legs for the end-of-season run-in
Higher-ups at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be kicking themselves, knowing they offloaded Brennan Johnson for little to no good reason. The Lilywhites lost millions when they sold the 24-year-old winger to Crystal Palace at the start of the January transfer window, but his departure funded the arrival of some new faces.
Shorting after recuperating just £35m from the £47.5m they paid Nottingham Forest a couple of years ago, Spurs signed Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid and Souza from Santos. Tottenham accelerated plans to bring in a midfielder and a defender when another wave of injuries hit Hotspur Way.
At the start of the year, Rodrigo Bentancur was forced to undergo surgery on a hamstring problem before Ben Davies suffered a broken ankle. The Lilywhites had already fallen into the bottom half of the Premier League, having lost a few other big names earlier in the season.
Higher-ups at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium rushed to bolster Thomas Frank's squad in the January transfer window, but they needed to raise funds. So, Johnson was sold.
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Ironically, the duo who decided that the Wales international didn't have a future at the club are no longer at the club themselves. football.london understands that Frank and Fabio Paratici informed Johnson on New Year's Day that he was surplus to requirements.
A couple of weeks later, Tottenham confirmed that Paratici would leave to join Fiorentina, just three months after returning. The sporting director served a two-and-a-half-year ban before being named co-sporting director, alongside Johan Lange, in October 2025.
Then, just under a month later, Frank was given the boot, leaving those who remain in the Spurs boardroom with egg on their face. Although Johnson has hardly set the world alight at Selhurst Park, Tottenham could have certainly done with an extra pair of legs as they fight for survival in the Premier League.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Igor Tudor acknowledged the importance of staying in the English top-flight. The interim head coach said: "Of course, everyone understands the situation, but we are working hard to change this otherwise there is something wrong if you don’t understand.
"Of course my job is to put the pressure away, but their job is also to accept this pressure as part of the job. Pressure is everywhere, but you need to love this job, you need to enjoy this job like you did when you start at 10-years-old to do this sport, so you don’t need to forget that this in the end only sport.
"Real pressures are other jobs. You know that is real pressure, families when they make and you earn money for the family. Work jobs like doctors who make operations.
"They are dealing and decide about life and death. That is the real pressure. This is sport. The club, Tottenham, has always been like a club with big pressure so you need to be ready to accept this and stand up. Not stay behind.
"Take responsibility and have courage to confront these things. Not when something come to you, you go in the direction of that (away) - don’t step back.
"This is the best way to do and only way to do. So, I hope we have and I am sure because I saw in training that we have these men to step up and take responsibility and make us start doing first of all good performances and after also win points."