Tottenham winger Brennan Johnson is starting to fulfil what many envisaged, including Wales national team boss Craig Bellamy, who sees parallels with Arsenal legend Robert Pires.
The 23-year-old joined Spurs for a hefty £45m sum from boyhood club Nottingham Forest last summer. He was immediately put under the microscope and returned with five goals and ten assists through 32 appearances in his debut campaign.
After seven appearances this season, Johnson is four shy of equalling last season’s output, but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. The forward broke his duck on matchday five, a week after playing 68 minutes against the Gunners in a 1-0 loss and subsequently receiving online abuse leading to the deactivation of his Instagram account.
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“It’s no coincidence for him because I think the reason he deactivated it was because of all the negativity and everything was going into his game and over thinking and then all of a sudden he was thinking about that as he’s playing,” former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw told BBC Radio Wales.
As touched upon, he’s scored in three consecutive Premier League appearances for the first time, becoming the youngest Tottenham player to do so since Dele Alli (20y 342d) in March 2017, but that’s not all. Johnson has scored in his last six games in all competitions for Spurs, with his six goals in these games more than he’d netted in his first 38 appearances for the club (five).
Having made 23 starts last term and completing the full 90 minutes on ten occasions, Johnson’s importance has skyrocketed this season, with his underlying attacking numbers standing out. After the opening seven matchdays, he ranks number for Spurs in terms of goals per 90 (0.52) and touches in the opp box per 90 (9.75).
“He’s a good footballer, he has ridiculous talent, his high-intensity is through the roof, it is elite,” Wales manager Bellamy recently said. “Spurs have paid that money for him. Now he could have a bad two years but trust me, if I’m in a [club manager] job I’ll go and buy him for that. He’s got every part of football that’s going to make him elite and that’s the player I see.
“Once you move from a different scenario, a different club, sometimes you hit the ground running, but sometimes it takes longer,” he added. “I remember [former Arsenal and France winger] Robert Pires for a whole season was a waste of money, next one he goes and wins player of the year… it works that way at times. He’s [Johnson] young and I believe all we’re seeing now is just what his talent is allowing. It was going to happen.”
It helps that Johnson has a fixed position, predominantly playing from the Spurs’ right flank, whereas last season, he was utilised across the Lilywhites’ forward line, even once he turned up to lead the line.
Johnson, who has joined an exclusive group of only seven players to score in six consecutive competitive games for Spurs since the inception of league football in 1908, can join an even more exclusive group if he scores next time out. Steve Archibald struck in seven straight games between September and October 1983, while a year later, Garth Crooks equalled that feat (December 1984 to January 1985).
Harry Kane, who departed as soon as Johnson arrived, did net in six successive matches on two separate occasions (2015/16 and 2018/19), but this could be one of those records matched or potentially broken by someone who is not the club’s all-time scorer.