Have Aston Villa’s hopes of signing Manchester United’s Sam Johnstone permanently received boost?

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Aston Villa want to sign Manchester United goalkeeper Sam Johnstone permanently.

Steve Bruce suggested back in October, in comments reported by The Sun, that he would like to sign Manchester United goalkeeper Sam Johnstone permanently in January, having signed the stopper twice on loan since he arrived at Villa Park.

Johnstone initially struggled to win the supporters over following his arrival earlier this year, but his second spell has arguably been more convincing, with the 24-year-old keeping seven clean sheets in 16 appearances in all competitions this term.

And Bruce handed the goalkeeper a major vote of confidence last month by insisting that he would like to sign Johnstone on a permanent basis in the upcoming window.

So perhaps a report regarding Manchester United’s transfer plans for January should be of interest to Bruce, as it arguably provides the Villans boss with some encouragement.

According to BBC Sport, United have told Jose Mourinho that if he wishes to sign players in January, he will have to sell some members of his squad first.

Although Johnstone will not command anything like the fee that some of his teammates would, you would imagine that Mourinho may not be particularly disappointed about the idea of letting the goalkeeper go.

Johnstone is yet to make his first-team debut for United, and there is plenty of depth around him in the pecking order at Old Trafford currently.

So if Bruce does follow up his interest with a bid, it would surely be no surprise if Mourinho had few qualms about letting him go in light of the recent message from those above him – even if the boost to the transfer kitty is not game-changing.