Opinion: West Brom should launch move for 25-year-old to replace Sam Johnstone

Steve Bruce has a decision to make at West Bromwich Albion this summer with Sam Johnstone set to depart at the end of his contract.

The Baggies have relied on the England international for four seasons now, clocking up close to 170 appearances, but with them unable to secure promotion this season, the 29-year-old looks likely to find a Premier League club in the summer.

Alex Palmer and David Button are the alternative options currently at the club, but neither boast the kind of recent record to suggest they are good enough to hold things together in a promotion push next season.

Chelsea’s Nathan Baxter and Leicester City’s Daniel Iversen has both performed very well in the Championship this season, but Freddie Woodman would be the ideal candidate to step in between the sticks for years to come at The Hawthorns.

Despite biding his time for years, it does seem like Woodman’s pathway is blocked to become Newcastle United’s undisputed first choice goalkeeper and therefore he may have to dip back into the Championship one more time, before becoming a first team regular at Premier League level.

Woodman is currently playing second fiddle to Mark Travers on loan at Bournemouth, but that is more due to the latter’s excellence and the credit in the bank he built up in the first half of the season when Woodman remained at St James’ Park.

Woodman is enduring his seventh loan spell away from the Magpies and with his contract expiring at the end of next season, this summer would be a good time to swoop for the 25-year-old.

They will not receive a fee for Johnstone this summer, but the wages he will leave behind could easily cover the cost of Woodman’s, with a smaller fee required to lure him away from the North East due to his