Wolves have completed the signing of England goalkeeper Sam Johnstone - the first part of their £32million deadline day double.
Johnstone has completed a £10million move from Crystal Palace, having refused to sign a new deal at Selhurst Park over the summer. That saw him demoted by head coach Oliver Glasner, with Dean Henderson taking the No.1 spot, while Johnstone was also stripped of his shirt number.
Now the former West Bromwich Albion stopper returns to the West Midlands, where he will be reunited with goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler, with whom he previously worked at Aston Villa.
“I’m absolutely buzzing. I’m finally here, excited to get going and I can't wait to put on the shirt,” says Johnstone. “It's a massive club, from the outside looking in, it's a really good club, and I've noticed that for the first two days being here. I've also worked with Neil Cutler – the goalie coach – before, who I love working with, and it's time to keep going, keep improving, and play football.”
Johnstone would have been at Euro 2024 with the Three Lions had it not been for injury, and Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs is delighted to sign him.
“It's great for us to have a player with a huge amount of Premier League experience and an international goalkeeper,” said Hobbs. “It’s an area of the pitch we wanted to add more competition.
"We talked about some Premier League experience within the group, it doesn’t really matter what position that is, and we're excited to have him here.”
While Hobbs talks of competition however, it’s understood Gary O’Neil is keen to change current No.1 Jose Sa and Johnstone is expected to take over as first choice sooner rather than later.
Ironically, Portuguese ‘keeper Sa boasts some of the Premier League’s more impressive goal prevention stats over the past few years, but a number of high profile errors have seen Wolves hierarchy look to replace him. He could now depart, with a move to Saudi Arabia having been mooted for some time.
Johnstone won’t be Wolves only arrival, with £22million Brazilian international midfielder Andre joining from Fluminense.
Andre bid his goodbyes to team-mates and staff yesterday, before flying overnight to Heathrow and making his way to Wolves’ Compton training ground this morning.
Wolves are also in the market for another centre-half and an attacking addition. Luca Koleosho had been their main choice for the latter, but Burnley have slapped a £40million price tag on his head - despite Koleosho being keen on moving to Molineux.