Opinion: West Brom should target 20-year-old as Sam Johnstone’s replacement

Steve Bruce faces a challenging summer at West Bromwich Albion as he tries to construct a squad capable of challenging for promotion to the Premier League.

On paper, the Baggies had a squad at the start of the 2021-22 season that looked tailor-made to produce an assault on the Championship title, and had a manager in Valerien Ismael who had previously gotten Barnsley as underdogs into the top six of the second tier.

Things derailed though during the season, which saw the Frenchman sacked and replaced by Bruce, who could not deliver consistent results to get Albion into the play-offs.

The reshaping of the playing squad has already begun, with the likes of Andy Carroll and Romaine Sawyers departing The Hawthorns and earlier this week, John Swift became Bruce’s first signing of the summer when arriving from Reading after 24 goal contributions for the Royals last season.

Another player who departed West Brom was Sam Johnstone, who ended his four-year stint with the club when he made it clear that he was moving on to pastures new in the top flight, with a move to Crystal Palace expected.

That leaves a number of goalkeepers battling it out to become Bruce’s number one next season – the experienced David Button, as well as Alex Palmer – who has not played a league game for the Baggies despite being 25 years old and a professional at the club for seven years, as well as youngster Josh Griffiths, who has spent the last two seasons on loan at Cheltenham Town and Lincoln City.

But could Bruce go out and bring in a new goalkeeper to replace Johnstone if he doesn’t have faith in his current options? If that happens to be the case, then West Brom should go all-out for Gavin Bazunu of Manchester City.

Despite being just 20 years old,