Sam Johnstone will join Crystal Palace after Tottenham Hotspur appeared to turn around and opt for Fraser Forster instead.
Johnstone was still likely to leave West Bromwich Albion this summer with the end of his contract.
Johnstone has more than proven himself in the Premier League in the 2020-21 season and would probably never have wanted to stay in the Championship.
West Brom’s poor season has only cemented Johnstone’s plans to move on and with his contract running, the goalkeeper is an attractive free agent.
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Sam Johnstone will join Crystal Palace
It looked like Johnstone would go to Tottenham on a free transfer this summer.
Tottenham allowed loanee Pierluigi Gollini to return to Atalanta and wanted a local goalkeeper to replace him.
Tottenham’s home numbers are less than ideal and bringing in an England goalkeeper to play as Hugo Lloris’s replacement made perfect sense.
In April, it was suggested that Tottenham were confident Johnstone would sign.
Football London added in May that Johnstone was ready to sign for Tottenham as a free agent.
However, 90Min claimed that Johnstone had in fact dismissed Tottenham and Spurs quickly turned their attention elsewhere.
Tottenham have pivoted to Fraser Forster and have now signed the former Southampton goalkeeper on a free transfer.
A deal seemed so close for Johnstone to join Tottenham, but this U-turn put him back in the market.
A number of Premier League clubs have been linked with Johnstone, but now it looks like Crystal Palace will win the race.
Athletic report that Johnstone has now agreed a four-year deal with Palace and will join the club on July 1.
Palace reportedly found a breakthrough in talks with Johnstone last week and they are now close to signing the 29-year-old stopper.
Johnstone has an excellent chance of becoming Palace’s first-choice goalkeeper and will battle with veteran stopper Vicente Guaita going forward.
In other news, Report: Spurs target desperately wanted by Ten Hag, but Conte apparently has the advantage