Stephen Warnock believes that it might take Brennan Johnson 10 matches to break into Tottenham’s starting eleven, suggesting that Ange Postecoglou will initially use the Welshman as an impact substitute.
Given that Spurs have paid £47.5m to sign Johnson from Nottingham Forest, it seems as though the club view the youngster as a potential starter rather than as merely a squad player.
In fact, various outlets have reported over the past week that the 22-year-old was Ange Postecoglou’s top attacking target right from the outset and that Tottenham believe that they have secured one of the best young players across the Premier League (Telegraph).
It remains to be seen which position Johnson will play for Spurs, with the versatile attacker primarily being used as a wide and central forward by Steve Cooper at the City Ground.
Some have suggested that Postescoglou might play the Wales international as the number nine (Micahel Dawson – Sky Sports News 12:14 pm, September 2, 2023) but Warnock believes that the youngster will initially used as an impact substitute to replace Dejan Kulusevski on the right.
Brennan Johnson won’t walk into Spurs starting XI
The former Blackburn Rovers star said on The Football Show on Sky Sports about Johnson: “He is going to have to earn his place in the team, isn’t he?! It will be difficult for him to break in. Will he play off either side? He isn’t going to drop Son out of the position off the back of that performance.
“I think it could take Brennan Johnson ten games to break into this team and showcase what he could do. It might take an injury to someone.
“A drop-off in form for one of the wider players. I don’t see Brennan Johnson playing through the middle though. I do see him playing in one of them wide positions.
“But it might get to the point where Ange Postecoglou goes ‘I am going to rotate them’, he is then keeping them fresh and hungry coming off the bench. Impact players.
“If I, as a fullback, have done 60 minutes against Kulusevski, the Brennan Johnson is coming on, I am thinking ‘where is the respite here?'”
Spurs Web Opinion
What the Johnson signing does is give Postecoglou plenty of options across the front four, with Maddison, Lo Celso, Johnson, Solomon, Kulusevski, Son, Richarlison and Perisic fighting it out for four positions.
However, in other positions such as centre-back, we are woefully short of numbers, which is why the squad needs to be repaired in the next couple of transfer windows.
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