West Ham Super Fans react as Sam Johnstone is linked with London Stadium move
This is part of a regular series from our panel of West Ham Super Fans. Each week, our Super Fans will deliver their verdicts on the biggest talking points and news stories around the London Stadium.
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West Ham are reportedly interested in signing goalkeeper Sam Johnstone from West Brom at the end of the season.
According to the London Evening Standard, Spurs are also keen on the 28-year-old shot-stopper, who’s been valued at £10million by the relegation-threatened Baggies.
Lukasz Fabianski will enter the final year of his contract at the London Stadium this summer while back-ups Darren Randolph and David Martin have been underwhelming, with the latter looking likely to exit on a free at the end of this season.
We asked our panel of West Ham Super Fans for their thoughts on whether Johnstone would make a good replacement for Fabianski, who is 36-years-old and was guilty of a suspect performance in the loss to Newcastle last week.
Some fans are happy for Fabianski to stay as the number one for another season with others happy to see Johnstone come in as a long-term replacement for the veteran Pole.
Here is what they had to say:
Mark Smith (@ironworks68)
Tony (@ashfordhammer)
Lena Starr (@LenaWHU)
Teddy Isaacs (@T_dIsaacs)
James Houlden (@JamesHoulden98)
Talkin West Ham (@TalkinWestHam)
Stuart Ling (@StuartLing76)
Bobby (@Bobby27590293)
Will Salthouse is someone who’s been heavily involved at West Ham in recent seasons.
ExWHUemployee reported on the West Ham Way podcast earlier this month that Johnstone is one of Salthouse’s clients and one of our Super Fans believes that could be key to the Baggies goalkeeper moving to East London.
According to Football Insider, Salthouse is someone who’s worked closely with David Sullivan. Michail Antonio, Aaron Creswell, Ryan Fredericks and Randolph are all on the books at Unique Sports Management, which is his agency.
Johnstone may have conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season but it’s hardly his own fault that West Brom’s midfield and defence has been so easy to play against for many Premier League sides.
He’s often made top-quality saves to keep the Baggies in games, including ones against Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Johnstone will likely be available this summer and everything is pointing towards there being a strong chance he’ll move to West Ham once West Brom are relegated.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie is completely baffled by two transfer decisions at the London Stadium.
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