It has been a busy summer of incomings and outgoings at Tottenham and more movement is expected before the transfer window closes on Friday.
So far eight players have signed up for the Ange Postecoglou project – including Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro who have joined permanently after loan spells – but the club are also looking to bring in an extra attacker after selling Harry Kane to Bayern Munich earlier this month.
Rather than recruit a like-for-like replacement for the England captain, which Postecoglou has admitted is practically impossible, Spurs appear to be after a versatile forward capable of playing in different roles, with Nottingham Forest‘s Brennan Johnson emerging as the prime candidate.
The north London club’s interest in Johnson has been simmering away for a few weeks and the prospective move has split opinion among the fanbase. Some are of the view that the £50m-rated 22-year-old is too expensive, while others are happy to back Postecoglou’s judgement based on his promising start that has even captured Robbie Williams’ attention. A video of Williams singing a Postecoglou-themed version of Angels has gone viral on social media.
Johnson enjoyed a productive debut campaign in the Premier League, scoring eight goals and registering three assists as Forest consolidated their position in the top-flight after earning promotion in 2022. And despite rumours about his future, with Brentford and Chelsea also credited with an interest, Johnson has started in all three of Forest’s games this season, although is yet to score.
Steve Cooper has used Johnson in a variety of roles including as a lone striker in a counter-attacking system, as part of a front two alongside Taiwo Awoniyi or as a right-sided winger in a three-pronged attack, and clearly the Welshman’s versatility is a big part of his appeal.
The most logical position for him in Postecoglou’s 4-3-3 formation would be as a winger and his skill-set would offer something different to Kulusevski, who has started Spurs’ first three fixtures. Manor Solomon is another pacey winger, but is better suited to an inside forward role from the left.
Johnson is quick and direct and arguably a more natural fit for “Ange Ball” as he tends to hold his position out wide and drive forward at pace rather than drift infield as the left-footed Kulusevski prefers to do. Postecoglou has used inverted full-backs so far which means there is a greater emphasis on the forwards to provide width, something that may not come as naturally to Kulusevski on his weaker side than it would to a right footer.
Johnson’s dribbling stats are underwhelming, though. He ranked 35th in the Premier League for attempted dribbles (with 88) last season but completed only 33 of them, at a rate of 37.5 per cent. Johnson is arguably more effective running onto through balls than dribbling past full-backs, which may be found out in a possession-based side like Spurs.
According to FBREF, a stats website powered by Opta data, Johnson’s data profile as an attacking midfielder or winger was most similar in the Premier League to Fulham’s Bobby Decordova-Reid and Brenden Aaronson, who endured a tough campaign with Leeds. Based on that, Johnson is more of a work in progress than a finished product.
That shouldn’t necessarily count against him, though, as Postecoglou has already shown in just a few months that his coaching can get the best out of his players. Destiny Udogie has been a revelation at left-back, Yves Bissouma has rediscovered his Brighton form and Pape Matar Sarr is developing nicely as an attacking, box-to-box midfielder. Johnson would be another pet project for Postecoglou to work with.
Gent’s 21-year-old Nigerian striker Gift Orban has also been linked with Spurs in recent weeks and seems to be viewed as a more exciting target than Johnson if social media noise is anything to go by. Orban has scored 26 goals in only 29 games for the Belgian side, but is a central striker and less adaptable than Johnson.
Another plus point for Johnson is that he would tick a homegrown box having progressed through Forest’s academy. The sales of Kane and Harry Winks this summer have weakened Spurs in that regard, while both Djed Spence and Japhet Tanganga are out of favour and tipped to move on. Premier League clubs must have a minimum of eight homegrown players registered in their 25-man squads.
Spurs will need to create room for Johnson with Postecoglou admitting that the squad has “five or six” too many players in it to meet registration rules. None of Hugo Lloris, Tanguy Ndombele, Sergio Reguilon, Eric Dier have featured under the Australian, while Davinson Sanchez and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg could also be sold.
But Kane’s departure has left a vacant space in attack and with Richarlison arguably the only member of the side struggling for form, adding a player of Johnson’s potential and utility could be just what Spurs need.
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