Craig Hope: NUFC have "watched" £20m phenomenon, he's an "exciting" Fraser upgrade - opinion

An update has emerged regarding Newcastle United‘s interest in Nottingham Forest winger Brennan Johnson heading into the summer transfer window…

Daily Mail reporter Craig Hope has revealed that the Magpies sent scouts to watch the forward in action against Huddersfield in the Championship play-off final last weekend.

He tweeted: “Diaby has been on Newcastle radar since January & is again on shortlist of wide targets (Brennan Johnson also watched, including at Wembley on Sunday). Schick staying & Hlozek arriving at Leverkusen might see movement on Diaby.”

It has been reported that the 21-year-old is valued at £20m but it remains to be seen whether or not that is still the case following Forest’s promotion to the Premier League.

Dan Ashworth must now work hard to get a deal done for Johnson, as he would be a big upgrade on Scottish winger Ryan Fraser.

The Welshman’s former boss Michael Appleton once dubbed him “exciting“, and that is what he can be as a replacement for Fraser on the wing at Newcastle.

The former Lincoln manager went on to say about Johnson: “When you’re the opposition manager in League One or the Championship, hopefully soon the Premier League, he’s someone you’d take note of because he’ll always be one of the two or three teams that you’ll be aware of and be wary of.

“His development and the way it’s happened for him over the last couple of years suggests to me that he’s only going to end up going in one direction and that’s the Premier League.”

In the 2021/22 Championship, Johnson produced an astonishing 16 goals and 10 assists as he created a whopping 15 ‘big chances’ and averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.10. The 21-year-old phenomenon has shown that he can regularly deliver at the top end of the pitch