WHZ View: West Ham must continue pursuing Sam Johnstone’s services
David Moyes has reportedly been put off by the idea of signing Sam Johnstone after learning West Ham will have to shell out £10million to sign him.
According to The Evening Standard, the Hammers boss cooled his interest in the England international.
Johnstone was on international duty at Euro 2020 these past few weeks, and a decision on his future could be made soon now that the tournament has concluded.
However, the Hammers are unlikely to pursue his services any further with Alphonse Areola appearing to be closing in on a move to the London Stadium this summer.
Decent alternate target
Areola to West Ham isn’t a done deal and if the past is any indicator, we shouldn’t be counting our chickens before they hatch. Until it’s not official, we cannot sit easy and having an alternate is usually a good way to conduct transfer activity.
Moyes may be put off by the current price, but given West Brom’s relegation, the club could be forced into lowering his price.
Also, the English keeper’s contract runs out at the end of next season so he could refuse to sign an extension and leave on a free next summer if the club are unwilling to play ball and offload him this summer.
Johnstone is a proven international with more Premier League experience than Areola. To be fair, he looked better playing for an eventually relegated West Brom side than Areola did for a Fulham team that also faced the drop.
That said, we’re delighted to pursue Areola and hopefully, we can get that one over the line. He may not have enjoyed the best of times at Fulham, but he is a quality goalkeeper and can thrive in the right environment.
Even if it doesn’t work out, it won’t be a bad deal financially as we’re in talks to sign him on a loan with an option to buy.
Should he not live up to Moyes’ standards, he could always be benched for Lukasz Fabianski and return to Paris St. Germain next summer.
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