Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly ‘ready to make’ a move to sign Wolverhampton Wanderers star Sam Johnstone this month, as per transfer journalist Graeme Bailey.
After sustaining a serious ankle injury, Guglielmo Vicario has been sidelined over the last few weeks and will remain out for a foreseeable time.
Fraser Forster has been deputising for the Italian recently, but the 36-year-old has looked shaky and kept clean-sheet only once in the last ten games. So, it appears Ange Postecoglou has started exploring options to sign a new goalkeeper in January.
Writing on X, Bailey says that the North London club have identified Johnstone as a serious target and are ‘ready to make a move’ for him this month with Wolves prepared to cash-in on him.
He wrote:
“Tottenham could be ready to make a move for Sam Johnstone, who can leave Wolves this month.”
Johnstone to Tottenham
After joining the West Midlands club from Crystal Palace last summer, the 31-year-old has found it difficult to get regular first-team football at Molineux Stadium this term, making only seven league starts thus far.
Having recently joined Wolves, the former Manchester United star still has three and a half years left in his current contract so Vitor Pereira’s side could demand a sizable amount of money to sell him permanently.
Johnstone, standing at 6ft 3in tall, is an efficient shot-stopper but lacks qualities with the ball at his feet. Postecoglou wants to play out from the back and Forster has struggled in this regard. So, signing a new goalkeeper – who isn’t comfortable playing out from the back wouldn’t be the right decision for Tottenham.
Therefore, they would be better off exploring other options to strengthen the goalkeeping department but it is going to be interesting to see whether the North London club eventually make a concrete approach to secure his service before the deadline.
Meanwhile, having failed to win the last three games in the Premier League, Tottenham will face off against in-form Newcastle United this weekend.
Spurs are languishing 11th in the league and they will have to return to form as quickly as possible to make a push in the second half of this season to qualify for European competition next season.
