Ange Postecoglou expects Brennan Johnson to ‘fit in really well’ at Tottenham
The Wales international was a deadline-day signing from Nottingham Forest.
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Ange Postecoglou believes Brennan Johnson can take a step up after completing a £45million move to Tottenham before Friday’s transfer deadline.
Spurs have reinvested some of the money received from Bayern Munich for Harry Kane on the 22-year-old Wales international, who scored eight goals and provided three assists to help Nottingham Forest avoid relegation last season.
Johnson was not registered in time to feature in Saturday’s 5-2 thrashing of Burnley at Turf Moor, but his arrival should add another dimension to a Tottenham side who were inspired by Son Heung-min’s hat-trick and could have scored even more in an exciting attacking display.
“He’s just another exciting young player. He’s a real threat in the front third, he’s different from what we’ve already got, he’s young and ambitious,” Postecoglou said. “It’s no secret that’s the model for me.
“It’s just as much about the person as well as the footballer, and looking at him he’s going to fit in really well with this group. He’s ambitious and hungry and wants to take his game to the next level.
“The technical and the physical attributes he has, he should fit in really well.”
Johnson was the ninth signing of a busy window for Tottenham, who spent more than £200million to reshape the squad in Postecoglou’s style.
But the Australian said it was just the start and that there is more work that he wants to do in the market in future windows.
“When you look at the team we have now, we virtually changed half the starting line up, the way we train, the way we coach,” he said. “The rebuild was never going to be one window.”
Spurs had fallen behind to an early Lyle Foster strike at Burnley but Son levelled in the 16th minute and they ruthlessly punished defensive mistakes from the hosts as Cristian Romero got a second in first-half stoppage time and James Maddison added a third early in the second half.
Son then scored twice in four minutes just after the hour to complete his hat-trick before Spurs took their foot off the pedal, with Josh Brownhill getting a stoppage-time consolation for the Clarets.
The defeat means Burnley have suffered three consecutive home defeats to begin life back in the top flight, conceding 11 goals in losses to Manchester City, Aston Villa and Spurs.
Vincent Kompany will now use the international break to pick the bones out of what has gone wrong for his side, but remains bullish that their methods will come good.
“During my career I’ve not just been a good leader or captain because of the good times,” the four-time Premier League winner said.
“It is easy to be a good captain or leader then, it is at these times I feel most confident in what you need to do to get better. You need to analyse what needs to get better and decide what the next step is.
“We will do everything we can to avoid defeat but it is at these moments you learn most about your team’s character.”