Walsall sign Manchester United ace Sam Johnstone
Walsall today swooped to sign Manchester United starlet Sam Johnstone on loan until the end of the season.
The 19-year-old becomes the Saddlers' fifth goalkeeper of the campaign and replaces the recalled Aaron McCarey after he returned to Wolves following Carl Ikeme’s freak hand injury.
Johnstone, an England Under-19 international, is in line for his debut in Saturday’s trip to Hartlepool with the Saddlers just three points off the League One play-offs.
And boss Dean Smith reckons Johnstone is ready to be thrown into Walsall’s promotion push.
Smith said: “It was unfortunate Aaron was recalled, but he will be replaced by a very able lad in Sam.
“I know Manchester United have high aspirations for him and he has already had a couple of previous loan spells at this level so he knows what it’s all about.
“I know a lot about the lad and watched him in action recently. I’ve had some very positive reports on him and am delighted to be able to bring him on board until the end of the season.”
Johnstone, who turns 20 on Monday, made 12 appearances on loan at Scunthorpe last season and also spent time at Oldham in 2011 without making an appearance.
He has progressed through the ranks at Old Trafford and has also played for the England under 16s and under 17s – winning the under 17s European Championships in 2010.
The Saddlers moved after being told on Saturday McCarey would be recalled following Ikeme’s injury.
He broke his hand punching a tactics board at half time after his gaffe gifted Bristol City the lead in Wolves’ 2-1 win on Saturday.
The Saddlers have used David Grof and loaned Karl Darlow, Ian McLoughlin and McCarey this season.
Record appearance holder Jimmy Walker was released in February after struggling to regain fitness after injury.
Rookies Liam Roberts and Richard Jones – who are yet to make a first-team appearance – were the only recognised keepers left before Johnstone’s arrival.
Smith added: “We found out on Saturday evening it was likely Aaron would be recalled. He did a tremendous job for us. He settled quickly back into the side and has played his part in the run that we are on.
“It’s one of those things that happens in football and we thank him for his efforts here.”
Comments for: "Walsall sign Manchester United ace Sam Johnstone"
North Bank
As a Wolves fan I'm disappointed that a stupid error by Ikeme inadvertantly made us recall McCarey; as I feel he should have remained at Walsall, to gain valuable game time and boost his confidence, to hopefully help Walsall challenge for the play-offs. I saw Johnstone play a couple of times when he was on loan at Scunny last season, and he is a very able goalkeeper, agile, commanding and strong; I think Walsall would struggle to identify a better goalkeeper to bring in for the remainder of the season
Saddlesore
Typical Wolves...couldn't possibly have allowed us to keep McCarey until the end of the season! The rule should be...if you sign a player on loan, he's your player until the end of that loan period...end of. None of this...sign him then lose him rubbish!
SaddlerStew
Bit harsh there, mate. Whilst I will not criticise Dean Smith- our successes this season outweigh our mistakes tenfold, to the point of near-irrelevance- this situation where we are loaning keepers left, right & centre has come from our own goalkeeping situation with Grof & Jimmy being a complete fools-up, so it's really of our own making. C'est la vie, no manager gets every personnel decision right.
We have Johnstone now, and I'm glad to hear some encouraging words from someone who has seen him, as I imagine very few of us have. Hopefully he's an improvement on McCarrey, who has his moments (the excellent save from Adams' header on Saturday immediately before Crawley's second goal, which was in no way his fault), but who you couldn't help but feel had a potential mistake in him as well, as evidenced by Ferry's goal at Swindon.
kevingnewton
looks like DS is going to dip in the transfer Market and sign a goalkeeper onloan because McCarey as not had prem/ship experience it what they say is correct then shame on you DS by the way DS is WOLVES BOSS
also thank you North Bank hope you get a manager that wants to take the club upwards