Brennan Johnson

Lentwood

Full Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
6,783
Location
West Didsbury, Manchester
Few of my mates who support Forest/Derby have been raving about this lad.

Still only 20, spent last season on loan at Lincoln, returned this year and broke into the first team and has made a big impact.

There has been plenty of speculation linking him to various Premier League teams, including Newcastle.

I have only seen a small handful of full games (I watch Forest occasionally as I was born in Nottingham) but he looks very technically proficient, quick, direct and has a good eye for goal cutting-in from wide areas.

Price tag has been advertised by the media at about £25m. Would he be worth a gamble?

Personally, I see signings like this as fairly low-risk. We could see how he gets on for a season and I am sure the worst we would do is get our money back if he can't quite make the step-up.

Again though, I'm not claiming to be some sort of expert on him - has anybody watched him extensively and if so, any strong opinions?
 

V.O.

Last Man Standing finalist 2019/20
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
7,847
There's so much heavy lifting to do in the transfer market this summer, I can't see us going for any Dan James type punts.
 

Lentwood

Full Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
6,783
Location
West Didsbury, Manchester
There's so much heavy lifting to do in the transfer market this summer, I can't see us going for any Dan James type punts.
I suppose it depends what we could raise from selling players. I think there's room for a punt or two, even allowing for the fact we desperately need two senior CMs and a senior CF to come straight into the first-team squad and make an impact.

Could look like masterstrokes if we can pick-up one or two good young players now for relatively small fees.
 

Brophs

The One and Only
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
50,280
Few of my mates who support Forest/Derby have been raving about this lad.

Still only 20, spent last season on loan at Lincoln, returned this year and broke into the first team and has made a big impact.

There has been plenty of speculation linking him to various Premier League teams, including Newcastle.

I have only seen a small handful of full games (I watch Forest occasionally as I was born in Nottingham) but he looks very technically proficient, quick, direct and has a good eye for goal cutting-in from wide areas.

Price tag has been advertised by the media at about £25m. Would he be worth a gamble?

Personally, I see signings like this as fairly low-risk. We could see how he gets on for a season and I am sure the worst we would do is get our money back if he can't quite make the step-up.

Again though, I'm not claiming to be some sort of expert on him - has anybody watched him extensively and if so, any strong opinions?
If Forest get promoted he likely wouldn’t be sold and it won’t be for £25m if he is. But I’ve seen him live probably half a dozen times this season and he’ll have a very good PL career, injury permitting.
 

Trequarista10

Full Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2020
Messages
2,536
There's so much heavy lifting to do in the transfer market this summer, I can't see us going for any Dan James type punts.
Dan James was a very strange purchase, and isn't representative of the kind of talent in the Championship. James' record in the Championship in terms of goals and assists wasn't very impressive. Nor was he a stand out in that league in terms of technical skill. He even started playing for Swansea somewhat late, so in terms of age he wasn't a real youngster, but experience wise he didn't have a huge amount of experience under his belt. Johnson is a now about a year younger than James was when we signed him, and Johnson has played more than twice as much first team football as James had by then already. Essentially, we signed James because he was lightning quick and could run all day. Which isn't to be scoffed at, but there are many more youngsters performing in the Championship who are more technically skilled and have more end product who could step up to higher levels.
 

Bebestation

Im a doctor btw, my IQ destroys yours
Joined
Oct 9, 2019
Messages
11,862
Jarrod Bowen is more the type of player that can be found in the championship than Dan James.

I felt Ole or the club went for Dan James to try and get the "next giggs"/next best Welsh player at United - when it was obvious that James wasn't good enough from the way he plays football.

Whilst I know nothing about this lad- I wouldn't write off us going for him either for similair reasons.
 

Plant0x84

Shame we’re aren’t more like Brighton
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
12,556
Location
Carpark and snack area adjacent to the abyss
I’ve seen him play a couple of FA cup games on TV, and there is definitely a buzz around him at Forest. One to keep an eye on for sure.
I hope he doesn’t come here. He is a young and exciting player and I wouldn’t want to see him ruined by our crap football or toxic fans. He deserves better.
 

Abraxas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2021
Messages
6,023
Why not? We didn't lose out with Dan James. If you can get these young, British lads for a fair fee to begin with and the scouting says they're promising its not a massive risk.
 

Idxomer

Full Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Messages
15,014
Much better than James, 1st time I watched him months ago against Derby and it was clear he's quality.
 

JJ12

Predicted Portugal, Italy to win Euro 2016, 2020
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Messages
10,841
Location
Wales
Much better than James, 1st time I watched him months ago against Derby and it was clear he's quality.
Yeah - sadly the lazy comparison to James will be made. Different level of talent Johnson is.
 

Cascarino

Magnum Poopus
Joined
Jul 17, 2014
Messages
7,615
Location
Wales
Supports
Swansea
He's a good player, when Forest came to Swansea this season they won 1-4 and he played a massive part in it, think he was motm too. Hopefully gonna become an important player for Wales and think he's set for a PL career.

Dan James was a very strange purchase, and isn't representative of the kind of talent in the Championship. James' record in the Championship in terms of goals and assists wasn't very impressive. Nor was he a stand out in that league in terms of technical skill. He even started playing for Swansea somewhat late, so in terms of age he wasn't a real youngster, but experience wise he didn't have a huge amount of experience under his belt. Johnson is a now about a year younger than James was when we signed him, and Johnson has played more than twice as much first team football as James had by then already. Essentially, we signed James because he was lightning quick and could run all day. Which isn't to be scoffed at, but there are many more youngsters performing in the Championship who are more technically skilled and have more end product who could step up to higher levels.
I actually agree with VO that a move to United isn't the right choice atm, but agree with everything you said about James and the championship in general.
 

FootballHQ

Full Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
18,139
Supports
Aston Villa
Brentford identified him in January and had 12m bid rejected. So they'll be back in the summer or Forest will go up and he'll sign a new deal.
 

TheReligion

Abusive
Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
51,446
Location
Manchester
I’ve seen him play a couple of FA cup games on TV, and there is definitely a buzz around him at Forest. One to keep an eye on for sure.
I hope he doesn’t come here. He is a young and exciting player and I wouldn’t want to see him ruined by our crap football or toxic fans. He deserves better.
What a weird post
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,080
Location
Hope, We Lose
There's so much heavy lifting to do in the transfer market this summer, I can't see us going for any Dan James type punts.
Bit unfair given James didnt have end product at Championship level while Johnson is top scorer for his club with loads of assists too.

Think its a bit closer to Danjuma who left Bournemouth and is now Villarreal's best attacker, Bowen to West Ham or Eze to Palace which is the least successful so far
 

Red_toad

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
11,587
Location
DownUnder
Wow people moaning about United signing Dan James, a lad who came in did a job and was sold at a profit. Plenty of good players in the championship, yet some fans think signings should only be from the top leagues, as they obviously all work out so well. I’d be very happy if United properly scouted Championship players and purchased a few. It’s a damn physically tough league, same with the SPL and there’s some quality players there as well.
 

elmo

Can never have too many Eevees
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
13,270
Location
AKA: Slapanut Goat Smuggla
Buy him and let him stay on loan at Forest if they get promoted. Worst case scenario he flops in the premier league and we'll just sell him to a Championship side that is aiming for promotion because he's definitely good enough for that level.
 

youngrell

Full Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2016
Messages
3,544
Location
South Wales
He looks very promising. Give Liverpool plenty of problems in the FA Cup match, albeit up against Tsimikas and not Robertson I think.
 

Shipperley

Full Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2015
Messages
718
Supports
CPFC
Don’t like this possible trend of big clubs shopping for the best talent in the Championship, get off our turf and give us £60m for them in a few seasons :D
 

andersj

Nick Powell Expert
Joined
Aug 7, 2004
Messages
4,275
Location
Copenhagen
Few of my mates who support Forest/Derby have been raving about this lad.

Still only 20, spent last season on loan at Lincoln, returned this year and broke into the first team and has made a big impact.

There has been plenty of speculation linking him to various Premier League teams, including Newcastle.

I have only seen a small handful of full games (I watch Forest occasionally as I was born in Nottingham) but he looks very technically proficient, quick, direct and has a good eye for goal cutting-in from wide areas.

Price tag has been advertised by the media at about £25m. Would he be worth a gamble?

Personally, I see signings like this as fairly low-risk. We could see how he gets on for a season and I am sure the worst we would do is get our money back if he can't quite make the step-up.

Again though, I'm not claiming to be some sort of expert on him - has anybody watched him extensively and if so, any strong opinions?
Contract is up in 2023, right? I think Johnson would make a lot of sense, but I doubt we have a single one at the club with brains to pick up at him at this moment.

The combination of pace, agility, ability (including a great touch) and a very good right foot makes him very interesting. Still only 20 years old, but been good at a relatively high level (Championship).

I think for the phase we are about to enter we should be more aware of young players from Championship. The level there is a lot better than it used too. The best talent from France, Germany etc are likely to prefer other destinations for now.
 

el diablorojo

Full Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
841
Supports
Brentford
I hope Brentford target him. If they cant keel Ericksen
We went for him in the last two transfer windows - in the summer Forest wanted too much money for a player that had only performed in League One and in January they didn't want to sell as they were targeting promotion. His dad, who is also is agent, ex-Forest player David Jonson seems to think his son is too good for Brentford - stupid really as we have a great track record of developing talent and then letting them leave if the right offer comes along. I suspect we will be back for him if Forest don't get promoted but this time there will be others with bigger budgets after him too.

As for keeping Christian Eriksen - nothing in football is certain but he is looking at schools in Chiswick for his son and those ITK seem quietly confident he will stay.
 

Judas

Open to offers
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
35,964
Location
Where the grass is greener.
I’ve seen him play a couple of FA cup games on TV, and there is definitely a buzz around him at Forest. One to keep an eye on for sure.
I hope he doesn’t come here. He is a young and exciting player and I wouldn’t want to see him ruined by our crap football or toxic fans. He deserves better.
I am so bored of supposed Utd fans on here posting this sort of crap. You're the toxic fan.
 

WelshManc

Full Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2009
Messages
2,894
I'm hoping Nottingham Forest get promoted and then I imagine he'll have one more season with them and then he'll get a decent move Summer 2023.

Hopefully we'll be keeping an eye on him too.
 

NoPace

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
9,340
We went for him in the last two transfer windows - in the summer Forest wanted too much money for a player that had only performed in League One and in January they didn't want to sell as they were targeting promotion. His dad, who is also is agent, ex-Forest player David Jonson seems to think his son is too good for Brentford - stupid really as we have a great track record of developing talent and then letting them leave if the right offer comes along. I suspect we will be back for him if Forest don't get promoted but this time there will be others with bigger budgets after him too.

As for keeping Christian Eriksen - nothing in football is certain but he is looking at schools in Chiswick for his son and those ITK seem quietly confident he will stay.
I could see him doing one more year at Brentford. The World cup is in the winter and he can dictate how much or how little he plays to be in peak form for it, and even move in January, though probably not until the year after. Even if it's in January, Eriksen for half the season AND a 10M fee or whatever he'd fetch in January with whatever team his agents find a move for is nothing to sneeze at for a club desperate to stay up and who could easily strongly upgrade another position (RB or CB or Eriksen's own replacement) with the money from a move like that. Or he stays a full year and gets a big salary the year after on a free and Brentford get to stay up again if he's healthy (they would have without him this year, but next year will be tough again, especially if Toney gets a move).
 

AneRu

Full Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
3,066
Contract is up in 2023, right? I think Johnson would make a lot of sense, but I doubt we have a single one at the club with brains to pick up at him at this moment.

The combination of pace, agility, ability (including a great touch) and a very good right foot makes him very interesting. Still only 20 years old, but been good at a relatively high level (Championship).

I think for the phase we are about to enter we should be more aware of young players from Championship. The level there is a lot better than it used too. The best talent from France, Germany etc are likely to prefer other destinations for now.
If we can get him for a fee between £20m and £30m then we should be all in, remember Dan James wasn't setting the Championship on fire but his first season here was pretty decent now imagine a more talented player with room for growth. Even if we have been burnt by some of our recent punts I still want us to always have room for punts on young talented players, we will get it right someday or make a decent profit like we did with James.

Recent history also favours standout players from the Championship, Maddison and Bellingham have settled nicely in the top leagues.
 
Joined
Jul 13, 2002
Messages
52,521
Location
Founder of IhateMakeleles.org and Gourcufffanboysa
We went for him in the last two transfer windows - in the summer Forest wanted too much money for a player that had only performed in League One and in January they didn't want to sell as they were targeting promotion. His dad, who is also is agent, ex-Forest player David Jonson seems to think his son is too good for Brentford - stupid really as we have a great track record of developing talent and then letting them leave if the right offer comes along. I suspect we will be back for him if Forest don't get promoted but this time there will be others with bigger budgets after him too.

As for keeping Christian Eriksen - nothing in football is certain but he is looking at schools in Chiswick for his son and those ITK seem quietly confident he will stay.
Interesting. The issue yall have with Ericksen is big clubs have seen he still has it. If a Spurs or United look his way. It might be very hard to keep him.
 

davidmichael

Full Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
3,373
Looks a good all round forward who is very all action but it’s a massive step from doing it in The Championship to The Premier League, look at Mitrovic as an example who has killed it this season but struggled at Newcastle and Fulham at the higher level.

If Forest come up then he’s definitely one to keep an eye on and if they went back down but he’d played well he’d be available for a decent fee but with the huge amount of problems we’ve got with our starting eleven he wouldn’t be a priority signing.
 

MyOnlySolskjaer

Creator of Player Performance threads
Joined
Nov 27, 2014
Messages
26,844
Location
Player Performance Threads
Looks a good all round forward who is very all action but it’s a massive step from doing it in The Championship to The Premier League, look at Mitrovic as an example who has killed it this season but struggled at Newcastle and Fulham at the higher level.
And look at Jude Bellingham, sometimes you just have to go for it early based on the talent you see.
 

Ace of Spades

Full Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2013
Messages
5,172
It all depends on Ronaldo, if he stays then maybe a punt like this is not a bad idea.
 

CM10

Full Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2014
Messages
7,275
I'm sure he'll find himself playing at Premier League level next season one way or another but not for a top half side.

We've got way too much to do in the summer window to even be thinking about a punt like this.
 

Elcabron

New Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2022
Messages
848
Wow people moaning about United signing Dan James, a lad who came in did a job and was sold at a profit. Plenty of good players in the championship, yet some fans think signings should only be from the top leagues, as they obviously all work out so well. I’d be very happy if United properly scouted Championship players and purchased a few. It’s a damn physically tough league, same with the SPL and there’s some quality players there as well.
This is a good point. Dan James wasn't good enough for us but he gave his all and played well in big games against City, I remember him getting a few assists v City.

Not that we are a selling club but are there any other players we bought in last 10 years that we sold for a profit? Chris Smalling? Javier Hernandez maybe?
 

Bebestation

Im a doctor btw, my IQ destroys yours
Joined
Oct 9, 2019
Messages
11,862
If he is good enough then I hope Garner comes back and gives the club the tip.
 

el diablorojo

Full Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
841
Supports
Brentford
Interesting. The issue yall have with Ericksen is big clubs have seen he still has it. If a Spurs or United look his way. It might be very hard to keep him.
Financially we can’t compete but we can offer what he was originally seeking - guaranteed first team football, freedom to express himself and play in a style that suits him, ability to stay in London where he is settled and coached by somebody he already knows and surrounded by fellow Danes. I think, unfortunately, United is just way too an unstable option for him at the moment and it’s moving away from London. Spurs is more of a worry, so hope Conte stays there is I think that would work to our advantage.