Cardiff City and Aston Villa: £5mill for Man United Player

Cardiff City and Aston Villa battling it out for Premier League goalkeeper -


The Daily Mail reports that Manchester United would want £5 million for the shot-stopper, who hasn’t even made his debut for the Old Trafford club. Thanks to Financial Fair Play restrictions, however, Aston Villa would be unlikely to afford that fee if they are still a Championship team next season. So another year without Premier League football might just see Johnstone up sticks with Cardiff.



The72

Sunday 20th May 2018

Cardiff City and Aston Villa are both interested in signing Manchester United goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.


The 25-year-old has spent this season on loan at Aston Villa in the Championship and Steve Bruce is keen to sign him on a permanent basis. However, their chances of signing him look likely to depend on if they are promoted to the top flight.

Villa play Fulham next weekend in the Championship Play-Off final for a place in the Premier League next season. Johnstone, who has been a key player for Bruce this season, is expected to play for them at Wembley as per usual.

Cardiff City are also keen on signing him in the summer. The Bluebirds already have a place in the top flight for next season after an impressive campaign under Neil Warnock. They are in the hunt for a new goalkeeper to provide competition for Neil Etheridge and to give them more goalkeeping options.

Sam Johnstone has played 45 games for Villa this season. He rose through the youth ranks at Manchester United as a youngster but has never made a senior appearance for the Red Devils. He has however had loan spells out at Oldham Athletic, Scunthorpe United, Walsall, Yeovil Town, Doncaster Rovers, Preston North End and now Villa.

Johnstone’s career path looks like it will depend on next week’s Championship Play-Off final. A win for Villa could mean that his future lies there, but Cardiff will be waiting if they are to lose to Fulham.

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Would be number 1 if we signed him.
Etheridge is a good goalkeeper but this guy is in a different league and is a future England international once he gets his chance in the premier league

Report: Cardiff City ready to nab Sam Johnstone from Aston Villa's clutches

HITC

Sunday 20th May 2018

Aston Villa need Premier League football to keep Sam Johnstone, but Championship rivals Cardiff City are reportedly interested in making a move for the shot-stopper.

Sam Johnstone of Aston Villa celebrates during the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Villa Park on March 10, 2018 in Birmingham, England.

There is a lot riding on next Saturday’s Championship play-off final.

Defeat to Fulham at Wembley will not only deny Aston Villa a route back into the Premier League – it could also kill off their hopes of signing Sam Johnstone on a permanent basis from Manchester United.

Because The Sun (20th May, page 67) is reporting that Cardiff City, who finished second in the Championship and went up automatically, are big fans of the 25-year-old goalkeeper and are hoping to sign him this summer either on loan or permanently.

John Terry of Aston Villa and Sam Johnstone of Aston Villa celebrate victory together after the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Reading at Villa Park on April 3, 2018 in...

Cardiff obviously have the added advantage in that they are a Premier League team now and could entice Johnstone to South Wales by offering him the chance to play top flight football for the first time in his career.

Johnstone has been on loan at Aston Villa since January 2017 and has shone under Steve Bruce, who has made no secret of the fact he would love to keep the Manchester United prospect in the Midlands on a full-time basis. But Aston Villa’s hopes seem to rest entirely on promotion.

Benik Afobe of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sam Johnstone of Aston Villa in action during the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Villa Park on...

The Mail reports that Manchester United would want £5 million for the shot-stopper, who hasn’t even made his debut for the Old Trafford club. Thanks to Financial Fair Play restrictions, however, Aston Villa would be unlikely to afford that fee if they are still a Championship team next season. So another year without Premier League football might just see Johnstone up sticks with Cardiff.

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Disagree, I would like him here if we didn't have Etheridge but Etheridge has to be number one.

Would be number 1 if we signed him.
Etheridge is a good goalkeeper but this guy is in a different league and is a future England international once he gets his chance in the premier league

See I don't get that, any particular reason why you think he is better than Etheridge and is a future England International?

He's never even played for the U21's, been with Man Utd since 2010 and never played a game.

He's the same age as Jack Butland and Nick Pope and a year older than Jordan Pickford, there are loads in front of him in the pecking order for England, the two boys at Southampton Forster and McCarthy for a start.

He conceded more goals than Etheridge last season with an equally impressive defence in front of him.

I can't see a single reason why he would be better than Etheridge.

Would be number 1 if we signed him.
Etheridge is a good goalkeeper but this guy is in a different league and is a future England international once he gets his chance in the premier league

See I don't get that, any particular reason why you think he is better than Etheridge and is a future England International?

He's never even played for the U21's, been with Man Utd since 2010 and never played a game.

He's the same age as Jack Butland and Nick Pope and a year older than Jordan Pickford, there are loads in front of him in the pecking order for England, the two boys at Southampton Forster and McCarthy for a start.

He conceded more goals than Etheridge last season with an equally impressive defence in front of him.

I can't see a single reason why he would be better than Etheridge.

Etheridge is a decent keeper, he had a great second half of the season but the first half of the season at times he was awful and even got dropped for Murphy at one point.

The only reason Johnson has not been spoken about with the keepers mentioned is that he was unlucky enough to be at Man Utd.
Tom Heaton had the same problem a few years ago.
If you watch his all round game he is superb, the same at the moment cant be said for Etheridge.
As soon as he breaks the premier league he will get his call up sooner rather than later

Would be number 1 if we signed him.
Etheridge is a good goalkeeper but this guy is in a different league and is a future England international once he gets his chance in the premier league

See I don't get that, any particular reason why you think he is better than Etheridge and is a future England International?

He's never even played for the U21's, been with Man Utd since 2010 and never played a game.

He's the same age as Jack Butland and Nick Pope and a year older than Jordan Pickford, there are loads in front of him in the pecking order for England, the two boys at Southampton Forster and McCarthy for a start.

He conceded more goals than Etheridge last season with an equally impressive defence in front of him.

I can't see a single reason why he would be better than Etheridge.

Etheridge is a decent keeper, he had a great second half of the season but the first half of the season at times he was awful and even got dropped for Murphy at one point.

The only reason Johnson has not been spoken about with the keepers mentioned is that he was unlucky enough to be at Man Utd.
Tom Heaton had the same problem a few years ago.
If you watch his all round game he is superb, the same at the moment cant be said for Etheridge.
As soon as he breaks the premier league he will get his call up sooner rather than later

We will have to agree to disagree mate, Etheridge got dropped for the one game against QPR, apart from that he was ever present in a promotion winning team!!!, I can't agree with your view that at times in the first half of the season he was awful, I'm not saying he was perfect but neither is Johnstone.

Here is your future England International this season for Villa against Fulham, everyone makes mistakes.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/ ... m-14305801

Would be number 1 if we signed him.
Etheridge is a good goalkeeper but this guy is in a different league and is a future England international once he gets his chance in the premier league

See I don't get that, any particular reason why you think he is better than Etheridge and is a future England International?

He's never even played for the U21's, been with Man Utd since 2010 and never played a game.

He's the same age as Jack Butland and Nick Pope and a year older than Jordan Pickford, there are loads in front of him in the pecking order for England, the two boys at Southampton Forster and McCarthy for a start.

He conceded more goals than Etheridge last season with an equally impressive defence in front of him.

I can't see a single reason why he would be better than Etheridge.

Etheridge is a decent keeper, he had a great second half of the season but the first half of the season at times he was awful and even got dropped for Murphy at one point.

The only reason Johnson has not been spoken about with the keepers mentioned is that he was unlucky enough to be at Man Utd.
Tom Heaton had the same problem a few years ago.
If you watch his all round game he is superb, the same at the moment cant be said for Etheridge.
As soon as he breaks the premier league he will get his call up sooner rather than later

We will have to agree to disagree mate, Etheridge got dropped for the one game against QPR, apart from that he was ever present in a promotion winning team!!!, I can't agree with your view that at times in the first half of the season he was awful, I'm not saying he was perfect but neither is Johnstone.

Here is your future England International this season for Villa against Fulham, everyone makes mistakes.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/ ... m-14305801

We will have to revisit this conversation this time next year.
By the way i like Etheridge but im not convinced he is good enough for the Premier league.
He had a quite a few dodgy moments last season and his distribution was shocking but in fairness he was settling into a higher league and new team mates. He improved massively after christmas.
I think he will start the season as number 2 if we sign a keeper like Fabianski or Johnstone which would be harsh in fairness.

From what I saw if this lad last season he is class. Young enough to be an asset as well.

I'd say he'd be better value for money than Fabianski although I'd be happy with either .. or the Leicester lad.

We need 2 top keepers whichever one if first choice . Etheridge has been superb but needs some real competition.

Would be number 1 if we signed him.
Etheridge is a good goalkeeper but this guy is in a different league and is a future England international once he gets his chance in the premier league

See I don't get that, any particular reason why you think he is better than Etheridge and is a future England International?

He's never even played for the U21's, been with Man Utd since 2010 and never played a game.

He's the same age as Jack Butland and Nick Pope and a year older than Jordan Pickford, there are loads in front of him in the pecking order for England, the two boys at Southampton Forster and McCarthy for a start.

He conceded more goals than Etheridge last season with an equally impressive defence in front of him.

I can't see a single reason why he would be better than Etheridge.

Etheridge is a decent keeper, he had a great second half of the season but the first half of the season at times he was awful and even got dropped for Murphy at one point.

The only reason Johnson has not been spoken about with the keepers mentioned is that he was unlucky enough to be at Man Utd.
Tom Heaton had the same problem a few years ago.
If you watch his all round game he is superb, the same at the moment cant be said for Etheridge.
As soon as he breaks the premier league he will get his call up sooner rather than later

We will have to agree to disagree mate, Etheridge got dropped for the one game against QPR, apart from that he was ever present in a promotion winning team!!!, I can't agree with your view that at times in the first half of the season he was awful, I'm not saying he was perfect but neither is Johnstone.

Here is your future England International this season for Villa against Fulham, everyone makes mistakes.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/ ... m-14305801

We will have to revisit this conversation this time next year.
By the way i like Etheridge but im not convinced he is good enough for the Premier league.
He had a quite a few dodgy moments last season and his distribution was shocking but in fairness he was settling into a higher league and new team mates. He improved massively after christmas.
I think he will start the season as number 2 if we sign a keeper like Fabianski or Johnstone which would be harsh in fairness.

I do here what your saying, I'm hoping he is going to kick on another level now (Etheridge), you might end up being right and he could be out of his depth, only time will tell now but I will be rooting for him, he seems like a good character

.

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One of Heaton or Pope will be available this summer imo as neither will want to be in the bench at Burnley. Mind you rither of those 2 would becan upgrade for Arsenal & Liverpool

Personally I’d like to see Fabianski at our club, prem league experience is going to be vital next season.

Johnstone to fight it out with etheridge please.
Within our price range and could sell on for quite a bit if needed

From what I saw if this lad last season he is class. Young enough to be an asset as well.

I'd say he'd be better value for money than Fabianski although I'd be happy with either .. or the Leicester lad.

We need 2 top keepers whichever one if first choice . Etheridge has been superb but needs some real competition.

Exactly what I was about to say. I really think that's how Warnock will go into this season trying to get assets in that keep a value.

How much is Fabianski going to cost and at 33 his value will only go down.

If they are going to go for this Johnstone guy offer him a place with us this week before play off final if he dithers let him stay with villa we want people who want to play for cardiff city we don't want to get unto a bidding war with a rival and if the player cannot be arse'd to take an opportunity when its offered to play for cardiff city in the premier league, then i hope it goes tits up for him and villa loose to fulham should have taken the chance when offered stay in the championship

If they are going to go for this Johnstone guy offer him a place with us this week before play off final if he dithers let him stay with villa we want people who want to play for cardiff city we don't want to get unto a bidding war with a rival and if the player cannot be arse'd to take an opportunity when its offered to play for cardiff city in the premier league, then i hope it goes tits up for him and villa loose to fulham should have taken the chance when offered stay in the championship

He’s not even going to be thinking about next season yet

Its pretty much black and white do you want to switch to us or not? from our point of view we need to sort our squad earlier the better and get a chance to gel anyway why would you want to play for villa anyway the fans turn on there players from week to week

Earlier in the season there was a danger that Lee Camp would be our No.1, and thankfully Etheridge grew into the role and deserves his chance at the top level, though I would be happy to see Johnstone or Flappyanski join us.

We will lose Philippines No.1 for the AFC Asian Cup.
The Cup runs from Jan 5 - Feb 1.
Philippines are a Pot 4 team so they may not get past the Group stages.
Thankfully the tournament is as close as it can be in UAE so travel won't be too bad.

Can’t see us paying out 5m for a keeper

Can’t see us paying out 5m for a keeper

i dont either, Etheridge is a fantastic keeper and what budget we have will be spent wisely and not on someone to sit on the bench all season...all this slugging it out nonsense..when does that happen.?

Can’t see us paying out 5m for a keeper

i dont either, Etheridge is a fantastic keeper and what budget we have will be spent wisely and not on someone to sit on the bench all season...all this slugging it out nonsense..when does that happen.?

It's how I see it aswell tbh, if we are on a tight budget with only say £30 million to spend, to spend £5 million of it on a goalkeeper to 'challenge' for the number 1 spot would be criminal, even more so for one who is no better than Etheridge and never played in the Premier League either, there are far more pressing areas of our squad that need strengthening IMO.

I guess it all comes down to what the available transfer kitty is, my guess is that he will bring in someone like Boaz Myhill or someone along those lines who will be on a free and relatively low wages.

Can’t see us paying out 5m for a keeper

i dont either, Etheridge is a fantastic keeper and what budget we have will be spent wisely and not on someone to sit on the bench all season...all this slugging it out nonsense..when does that happen.?

It's how I see it aswell tbh, if we are on a tight budget with only say £30 million to spend, to spend £5 million of it on a goalkeeper to 'challenge' for the number 1 spot would be criminal, even more so for one who is no better than Etheridge and never played in the Premier League either, there are far more pressing areas of our squad that need strengthening IMO.

I guess it all comes down to what the available transfer kitty is, my guess is that he will bring in someone like Boaz Myhill or someone along those lines who will be on a free and relatively low wages.

i dont get any of the Etheridge stuff i read on here tbh...distribution..? well he is under orders to launch EVERYTHING 70 yards how accurate do people expect him to be { not to mention our manager has him taking about 75% of free kicks in our half ?...awful first half of season..? conceded 18 goals and had 10 clean sheets thats only 1 goal more than Man City conceded and 1 clean sheet less over the same amount of games..
dropped for poor form on the day the window opened..dropped?..so our manager goes out and signs ..erm 5 players but no goalkeeper instead he loans a keeper out and Etheridge returns in the very next game ?...no wonder we got relegated.

Can’t see us paying out 5m for a keeper

i dont either, Etheridge is a fantastic keeper and what budget we have will be spent wisely and not on someone to sit on the bench all season...all this slugging it out nonsense..when does that happen.?

It's how I see it aswell tbh, if we are on a tight budget with only say £30 million to spend, to spend £5 million of it on a goalkeeper to 'challenge' for the number 1 spot would be criminal, even more so for one who is no better than Etheridge and never played in the Premier League either, there are far more pressing areas of our squad that need strengthening IMO.

I guess it all comes down to what the available transfer kitty is, my guess is that he will bring in someone like Boaz Myhill or someone along those lines who will be on a free and relatively low wages.

i dont get any of the Etheridge stuff i read on here tbh...distribution..? well he is under orders to launch EVERYTHING 70 yards how accurate do people expect him to be { not to mention our manager has him taking about 75% of free kicks in our half ?...awful first half of season..? conceded 18 goals and had 10 clean sheets thats only 1 goal more than Man City conceded and 1 clean sheet less over the same amount of games..
dropped for poor form on the day the window opened..dropped?..so our manager goes out and signs ..erm 5 players but no goalkeeper instead he loans a keeper out and Etheridge returns in the very next game ?...no wonder we got relegated.

Merge this and the Fabianski thread

http://www.insidewalessport.co.uk/cardi ... i-reports/

I can agree that Etheridge is a good keeper however those stats can only paint half a picture for me from watching the games.

Personally having watched him I think he started the season shakily, not poorly but I think he lacked confidence which can be expected jumping up a division. His decision making wasn’t great, a number of times he came rushing out and miss judged the situation. His kicking was poor, the fact that most of the time its long balls doesn’t make a difference, a number were over hit straight to the opponents keeper, others were going straight into touch. I would say for a period during the first half of the season the defence saved him quite often although he remained a good shot stopper

However in the second half of the season I would say it was the complete opposite, his kicking has improved and he has been the one saving the defence on a number of occasions. Especially the last 10 games or so the way he has rushed out to close down goal scoring opportunities has been fantastic, for me the most improved player this season.

I think over the season he has improved massively and I would have no concerns with him starting the first game of the season. However we need competition and the competition needs to capable of starting as number one. Etheridge could lose form, maybe going up 2 leagues in 2 seasons will be to much, he could break his leg anything could happen so we must be prepared especially in goals, its obviously not like outfield positions where you can change people about. We have to sign a good quality keeper, next season wont be like the championship where you can get away with a couple of things, every mistake will be punishable and we must have at least 2 capable keepers.

For me someone like Johnstone is ideal, he has been excellent for Villa, probably MOTM in both our games, at a good age where he will still have a resale value in the future. Personally I would say sign someone like him and then let them fight over being number 1.

Its pretty much black and white do you want to switch to us or not? from our point of view we need to sort our squad earlier the better and get a chance to gel anyway why would you want to play for villa anyway the fans turn on there players from week to week

Who needs transfer windows eh?

All you need do is offer players a take it or leave it over a weekend and if they don't want to sign then you move on.

With the greatest respect pal, you're Cardiff City, not Man City. I doubt any player would commit to you in May, other than some obscure foreigner with no hope of playing in the PL for anyone else. With your attitude, Cardiff would end up with nobody who is better than what you have already. Besides, there will be bigger and better clubs sniffing around for Johnstone if Villa don't go up.

I can agree that Etheridge is a good keeper however those stats can only paint half a picture for me from watching the games.

Personally having watched him I think he started the season shakily, not poorly but I think he lacked confidence which can be expected jumping up a division. His decision making wasn’t great, a number of times he came rushing out and miss judged the situation. His kicking was poor, the fact that most of the time its long balls doesn’t make a difference, a number were over hit straight to the opponents keeper, others were going straight into touch. I would say for a period during the first half of the season the defence saved him quite often although he remained a good shot stopper

However in the second half of the season I would say it was the complete opposite, his kicking has improved and he has been the one saving the defence on a number of occasions. Especially the last 10 games or so the way he has rushed out to close down goal scoring opportunities has been fantastic, for me the most improved player this season.

I think over the season he has improved massively and I would have no concerns with him starting the first game of the season. However we need competition and the competition needs to capable of starting as number one. Etheridge could lose form, maybe going up 2 leagues in 2 seasons will be to much, he could break his leg anything could happen so we must be prepared especially in goals, its obviously not like outfield positions where you can change people about. We have to sign a good quality keeper, next season wont be like the championship where you can get away with a couple of things, every mistake will be punishable and we must have at least 2 capable keepers.

For me someone like Johnstone is ideal, he has been excellent for Villa, probably MOTM in both our games, at a good age where he will still have a resale value in the future. Personally I would say sign someone like him and then let them fight over being number 1.

people jumped the gun some have said they were wrong and others are trying to justify their criticism. by saying things like this....
the fact that its mostly long ball doesnt make a difference...i dont believe for one minute that you believe that..the further the ball has to travel the less likely its going to be accurate and the more time those defending it have to adjust position..
but the biggest pointers on distribution are..our manager stuck with it all season and at no point had Etheridge mixing it up with short passes to defenders/midfielders or rolling it out to full backs { which he surely would have done if Etheridge kicking was a quarter as bad as some would like to make out } . and the fact Etheridge continued taking free kicks awarded in our half..almost as far up the field as the halfway line..conclusion has to be our manager was happy with it as i am...those kicks had far more to do with us going up than they were negative its how we got up the field.

Obviously the further it has to travel the less accurate its most likely going to be but he should be able to get the ball into a certain area nearly everytime, you allow enough room for a player to be able to get to it and not into touch or straight to the opposing keeper. As I said his kicking improved towards the end of the season, infact his whole game improved and he was key in us going up. If he can continue the form he showed in the last 10 games in the prem then no doubt he will be number one. His kicking is not enough of a reason for him to have been dropped in my opinion.

That certainly doesn’t mean we don’t need another keeper as competition for him though. What if he get a long term injured? what if he loses form and or confidence? I don’t see any problem with signing a keeper like Johnstone and letting them fight it out over preseason with the best keeper starting the season.

Earlier in the season there was a danger that Lee Camp would be our No.1, and thankfully Etheridge grew into the role and deserves his chance at the top level, though I would be happy to see Johnstone or Flappyanski join us.

We will lose Philippines No.1 for the AFC Asian Cup.
The Cup runs from Jan 5 - Feb 1.
Philippines are a Pot 4 team so they may not get past the Group stages.
Thankfully the tournament is as close as it can be in UAE so travel won't be too bad.

cant agree with you more, at the time of the asian cup my guess is that it will be a critical time we need class cover someone hoping to cement the goalkeeping position.