Nottingham Forest wanted Sam Johnstone in 2016 and spent almost the entire summer attempting to land a new goalkeeper.
Aston Villa have emerged from the crisis that surrounded their start to the season and are finally looking up again. As it stands, Steve Bruce’s side are just two points off the top six after their 2-1 win against Nottingham Forest on Saturday meant they have now gone six games without defeat.
While Albert Adomah and Conor Hourihane will hog the headlines after scoring either side of a Daryl Murphy goal, the performance of Sam Johnstone in between the sticks was equally important.
The on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper pulled off one excellent late save to keep out Kieran Dowell’s free-kick and secure a second win on the bounce, while commanding his area with real maturity and presence.
In fact, you could make a case for Johnstone being the Championship’s stand-out goalkeeper. In contrast, opponents Forest were left frustrated by their failure to add another shot-stopper to their ranks in the summer while Villa nabbed a hugely talented 24-year-old without spending a penny in transfer fees.
Forest were linked with countless goalkeepers throughout the summer and, after having two bids rejected from Brondby for Danish international Frederik Ronnow, landed Adam Federici on loan from Bournemouth (Nottingham Post).
Just days into his Forest career, however, Federici was ruled out for three months with an injury picked up on international duty – meaning he returned to the South Coast without ever playing a game for Mark Warburton’s side.
Therefore, Forest could be forgiven for wishing they had renewed their interest in Johnstone this summer after failing to bring him to the City Ground in the summer of 2016, as reported by The Mail.
Young Jordan Smith is a fine shot-stopper but there’s no one better than Johnstone when he is on Saturday’s form.
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