Tottenham announce transfer - Why everyone wanted to sign Brennan Johnson

Nottingham Forest undoubtedly proved the doubters wrong last season by avoiding the drop by a mere four points and managing to secure their Premier League status for another season. Despite concerns over the club’s gung-ho approach to the transfer window and calls to sack head coach Steve Cooper, the Reds certainly did things their own way, and in the end, if proved to be the right call.

But Nottingham start the season with a major setback as their star player Brennan Johnson has now joined Tottenham. Both clubs made the transfer official in the final minutes of deadline day on Friday. Nottingham Forest will receive €55m. Johnson is now the most expensive outgoing transfer in Forest's history. 

It is a significant fee for a young player. But Johnson has shown that he is worth the buzz. While Forest can call on a number of impressive players, no star embodies the club’s determination to solidify their spot in the English top-flight quite like young forward Johnson. Having worked his way up the ranks from the club’s youth academy to where he now leads the team’s attacking line, Johnson is undoubtedly the jewel in Forest’s crown and their best bet for avoiding relegation this season. 

How good is Brennan Johnson? 

Johnson made his debut for Forest at the age of 18 and over the course of the last four years he has quickly established himself as one of English and Welsh football’s most exciting talents. After an impressive season on loan at League One side Lincoln City, in which Johnson bagged 10 goals and 12 assists in 40 games, the Nottingham-born talent was then fast-tracked into Cooper’s team for the 2021/22 Championship season. There, Johnson needed little time adapting to a higher standard of football and scored 16 goals and nine assists, before bagging a further two goals in the league play-offs to win promotion to the Premier League. 

Much of the intrigue in Johnson has undoubtedly since come from the manner in which he has taken to each new league like a duck to water. Shortly after surprising many in the Championship, Johnson then took to last season’s Premier League with relative ease and bagged eight goals and three assists in 38 league games. Which was the joint-top return for goals and assists for a Forest player, alongside Taiwo Awoniyi. And few would doubt that Johnson could improve on that tally this season with an improved Forest side or, indeed, at a bigger club.