Why A Loan Move Would Be Ideal For This Forgotten Manchester United Player

Being a substitute goalkeeper can be one of the most frustrating things in the world. The lack of opportunities can turn you from a great prospect into a rusty old rag in a heartbeat, as this is probably the most difficult position to earn in a soccer team.

The situation can get even worse if you’re not the second choice of the team, since being the third goalkeeper in any team won’t get you any chances, even if there’s an injury or the boss needs to rotate players for an important game.

This is precisely the current situation of the young prospect from Manchester United Samuel Johnstone, who’s currently is behind David De Gea and Sergio Romero in the fight for the starting goalkeeper spot for Manchester United.

Johnstone is only 23 years old, and given the fact that keepers usually stay active in the game for a lot longer than the other players, you know there’s a lot of chance to growth ahead for the young guy.

So, what can you do if you’re a great prospect with no chance of getting minutes with a contending team? That’s right, you get the hell out of there, at least for a while, and that’s precisely what Sam Johnstone should do.

There’s no doubt about the young keeper’s talent, as he has already been called for international duty with England’s U-17, U-19 and U-20 team, owning the starting job ahead of another great prospect, Jack Butland.

Besides, we can’t forget England’s first team goalkeeper situation. With Joe Hart about to be sold next season and playing for a subpar team at Torino, you can start to see the decline that his career is about to suffer soon, so the starting keeper job for the three lions can be up for grabs in the near future, and Johnstone shouldn’t have much competition besides Southampton’s Fraser Forster.

There are a lot of Championship teams in need of a cheap goalkeeper that can help them reach the golden division of England’s soccer, and this guy has already played for Scunthorpe United, Walsall, Yeovil Town, Doncaster Rovers and more recently Preston North End, so he’s used to the level of this smaller competitions and has proved himself as a reliable guy in the bottom half of the pitch.

However, Johnstone seems ready for a bigger challenge, and he needs to prove himself at a bigger stage in order to catch Gareth Southgate’s eyes. It’s been pretty clear that De Gea won’t be losing his job anytime soon unless he finally departs to Real Madrid or end his career here only, but that possibility seems pretty unlikely right now, so Sam could be looking for a move to another Premier League team.

Of course, as we mentioned before, finding a spot for a goalkeeper is no easy task to do, but given the talent the youngster has shown since his debut five years ago, there will be more than one nice suitor for Johnstone if he’s made available by the Red Devils.