Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson looks set to be making a deadline day switch to Tottenham Hotspur but things could have been different and Johnson could have been a Newcastle United player.
Welsh winger Brennan Johnson was one of Nottingham Forest‘s stand-out players last season as they survived their return to the Premier League.
Tottenham are now working on a £45million deal to take Johnson away from Nottingham Forest but The Telegraph has reported that Newcastle seriously looked at Johnson earlier in the window.
Newcastle seriously considered a move for Johnson
It looks like Newcastle’s summer incoming business is done with any deals unlikely to be done in the remaining hours of the window, but earlier in the window Newcastle were mulling over a move for Johnson.
Newcastle were working on what became a £39million deal for Harvey Barnes from Leicester, but at one point talks stalled and the deal looked in jeopardy which is when the Magpies’ turned their attention to Brennan Johnson.
Johnson would have been a great second option if the Barnes deal failed. Since graduating from the Forest academy, the 24-year-old has scored 29 goals and registered 12 assists in his 108 senior appearances.
Nottingham Forest needed to sell Johnson for FFP
I’m not sure that he’s worth the £45million plus that Tottenham are paying for him given that we were able to snap up Harvey Barnes for £39million, but it could be a case of a bit of deadline day tax on that one.
However it’s a deal that Nottingham Forest needed after their wild spending last season puts them in touching distance of breaching Financial Fair Play rules, so with Johnson being an academy graduate, that’s almost pure profit for Forest.
That wild spending by Forest included two Newcastle players. Chris Wood moved on loan with an obligation to buy and there was also an ill-fated move for Jonjo Shelvey.
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