Captain disappointed to see Tottenham snap up ‘quickest player in the league’
Joe Worrall understands Brennan Johnson’s desire to make that £47 million deadline day move to Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur but admits Nottingham Forest will miss ‘the quickest player’ in the division.
Brennan Johnson was not only part of the furniture at the City Ground – a local lad, an academy graduate and the son of a Nottingham Forest legend – he was also one of the first names on Steve Cooper’s team sheet, a reliable source of goals, and absolutely integral with his pace and ball-carrying ability to the manager’s counter-attacking approach.
Forest captain Joe Worrall accepts that it won’t just be on the pitch where Tottenham’s new £47 million signing will be missed either; the two-time European champions losing a highly-popular member of the dressing room to the bright lights of London.
Tottenham sign Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest
“We’ll miss him, definitely. He’s a lovely lad. He’s kind-hearted, a hard-working individual and he’s a mate of mine,” Worrall tells talkSPORT (5 September, 10.40am). “So it is sad to see (him leave).
“On the football pitch, he offered us so much last year. He was the quickest player in the league. The way he carried the ball and set up counter attacks for us… He was a vital part of getting us up to (the Premier League) and keeping us there.
“That’s football though, and it’s life. You get a large sum of money for a player and it’s hard to turn down. Tottenham is a massive football club with big aspirations, so I don’t blame him and I wish him all the best.”
And if he can replicate last season’s tally of ten goals and three assists from his preferred wide-forward role, Johnson will quickly repay the investment of a Tottenham side under pressure to spread the numbers around this term following the loss of talismanic top scorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich.
Forest, at least, begun the post-Johnson era in some style on Saturday; beating Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge without last year’s star man.
