Johnstone spent the second half of 2016-17 on loan at Aston Villa and quickly established himself as Steve Bruce’s first-choice keeper at Villa Park, making 22 appearances in total for the Championship outfit.
Pogba taunts failing rivals
After initially signing with the Midlands side, Johnstone admitted “I need to be selfish now” in relation to his future after failing to make a single appearance for United at first-team level, and now he looks set to depart Old Trafford with a number of Premier League clubs including Leicester City and Huddersfield Town thought to be interested in snapping him up.
“Sam has a number of options and is considering them all at this moment in time,” said a representative for his agents James Grant Sports, and with United boss Jose Mourinho having lauded his goalkeeping trio of David de Gea, Sergio Romero and Joel Pereira in recent times it appears that any final hope Johnstone had of breaking in to the United side has gone.
The 24-year-old has spent a total of nine separate loan spells with seven different clubs over the last six years, with Scunthorpe United, Walsall, Yeovil Town, Doncaster Rovers, Preston North End and Villa having all given him first-team opportunities.
Johnstone is a product of the Manchester United academy, and was the goalkeeper when United won the 2011 FA Youth Cup. His team-mates included Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Michael Keane, Tyler Blackett and Ravel Morrison.
