Everton have only signed one new face so far this summer in the £24m arrival of Hayden Hackney from Middlesbrough, but another deal could be close.
Bobby Manzi of the Daily Mail believes the Toffees could sign Sam Johnstone from Wolves if Mark Travers departs the Hill Dickinson Stadium as expected, with Frank Lampard supposedly keen on bringing the Republic of Ireland international to Coventry.
As Everton monitor Johnstone, it is worth taking a look at what Sam Allardyce said about the England international back in November 2024 while speaking on the Seaman Says podcast with David Seaman.
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Sam Allardyce thinks Sam Johnstone is “as good as” Jordan Pickford
The former Everton manager said: “I was surprised (Dean Henderson arrived at Crystal Palace) because they had Sam Johnstone there. I worked with Sam at West Brom and thought, he’s as good as Pick (Jordan Pickford) him.”
In our view, this is an odd choice for Everton in terms of replacing Travers – who is eager to leave – as Johnstone is arguably too good for that role.
One thing you ideally want above all when searching for a backup goalkeeper is for them to be cheap, given the likelihood that they will hardly feature behind the main glovesman.
Considering Johnstone is still under contract at Wolves until July 2028 and could become number one at Molineux next season given his vast experience of the Championship, we doubt the Old Gold would be willing to sell for any less than the £10m they spent to sign the 33-year-old from Crystal Palace in August 2024.
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It makes us doubtful that this move will materialise, unless the former Manchester United goalkeeper holds a desire to return to the Premier League immediately and pushes for the switch himself.
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