Chelsea want to sign West Ham United linked Brennan Johnson after Michael Olise transfer collapses
Chelsea have entered the race alongside West Ham to sign Brennan Johnson after their deal to sign Michael Olise collapsed, according to The Guardian.
Writing on their official website (17 August), the newspaper report that the Blues had triggered the £35m release clause of Crystal Palace winger Olise, only for the French winger to sign a new four-year deal at Selhurst Park instead.
Now they have turned their attentions to Nottingham Forest star Johnson, who West Ham are also interested in signing as a potential option to bolster their attack with the future of Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta in the air.
“Chelsea have added Brennan Johnson to their list of attacking targets and have held initial talks with Nottingham Forest over a move for the winger,” they wrote.
“The are understood to have activated Michael Olise’s £35m release clause but on Thursday the winger committed his future to Crystal Palace, signing a new deal to 2027. Palace are unhappy with how Olise has been approached by Chelsea, who insist their behaviour has been above board.
“Discussions over Johnson are at an early stage. The possibility of including players as part of a deal for the versatile Wales international have been discussed with Forest, who value the 22-year-old at about £45m. Johnson, who also has interest from Tottenham and West Ham, played a key role in Forest winning promotion from the Championship in 2022 and he helped them stay in the Premier League by scoring eight goals last season.”
Blow
The chances of signing Johnson were already slim because of Forest’s £50m asking price and the fact that there were several other teams in the race already.
But the inclusion of Chelsea now makes things harder because lots of clubs know that they have money to burn in the transfer window, but also because they’re one of the biggest clubs in the country.
Johnson may find first-team opportunities harder to come by as he would be competing with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Noni Madueke out wide, whereas at West Ham he’d likely be a starter in the striker position such is his playing style.
No bids have submitted and the player himself seems happy at Forest so there’s no guarantee that he leaves anyway, but the Hammers’ task of bringing him in has surely just got more difficult. Chelsea being greedy is no shock, but neither is West Ham dithering in the market.
In other West Ham news, Manchester City’s top price for Paqueta has emerged.