Journalist Dean Jones has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur were very close to landing Sam Johnstone but the deal collapsed since the North London club could not give the West Brom goalkeeper assurances regarding game time.
With Pierluigi Gollini’s loan spell at Tottenham coming to an end, it was reported a couple of weeks ago that Spurs were confident of landing Johnstone, whose contract with West Brom runs out this summer (The Sun).
However, it now appears as if Southampton keeper Fraser Forster is going to join as Hugo Lloris’ understudy, with Fabrizio Romano suggesting it is only a matter of time before Spurs announce the capture of the 34-year-old.
90 min claimed earlier this week that Spurs shifted their attention from Johnstone to Forster after the Baggies star expressed an intention to go elsewhere.
However, Jones has explained it was due to Tottenham’s unwillingness to guarantee the 29-year-old game time that the move collapsed.
The journalist told GiveMeSport: “Basically what happened was, Sam Johnstone was very far down the line in terms of joining, and, from what I understand, he had certain hopes about a guarantee of game time, and Tottenham couldn’t give him that.
“And he’s basically had reservations, and now that Forster’s come onto their radar as a new option, it looks like they’re going to go ahead with that one instead of Sam Johnstone.”
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Lloris obviously has to start every single Premier League and Champions League game if he is fit. So, the only assurances that Spurs could have given Johnstone was about appearances in the early stages of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
The England international might have felt he has a better shot of getting regular game time at a club like West Ham or Crystal Palace than he does at Tottenham.
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