Such is Brennan Johnson’s glittering form for Nottingham Forest, Austria would be foolish to fixate on the usual suspects when they take on Wales in their World Cup play-off semi-final. Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey are the obvious stars but in Johnson Wales possess another jewel. Last Sunday a familiar scene unfolded as Liverpool became the latest team to witness what the fuss is about, as the 20-year-old tormented Jürgen Klopp’s side with his searing pace, tenacity and eye for a killer pass during a testing FA Cup quarter-final.
Johnson shone earlier in the competition against Leicester and Arsenal, scoring against the former when he nutmegged the Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward from an acute angle. “He is so composed,” says Paul Bodin, who worked with Johnson when in charge of Wales’s Under‑19s and later with the Under‑21s. “He can pass it with good quality when he’s running. He just feeds the ball into good areas, with the perfect weight of pass … They were standout things years ago but they were not on the stage he is on now. I’m sure he will go on to do it for Wales for many years.”
Johnson scored three minutes into his Under-21s debut against Belgium and Bodin knew instantly he would not hang around his squad for long. Even now, there is a sense Johnson is only beginning to fulfil his potential.
“A couple of years ago, I don’t think he perhaps believed how good he was,” Bodin says. “With young players, you try to keep them on a nice calm level and I think Brennan kind of stayed on that level rather than thinking: ‘Hang on, I’m a lot a better than all of these players around me and I can reach for the stars.’ He has had good management at Forest under Steve Cooper, who is used to dealing with good young players, and he has flourished again. He’s got all the ingredients, he’s got the right attitude, he’s got great family support, so the world is his oyster.”
His performances this season have cemented his status as the most exciting talent in the Football League. Brentford had four bids rejected in January and are not the only Premier League team trailing the forward, who joined Forest aged eight. Born in Nottingham, he played for England Under-16s and Under-17s but qualifies for Wales through grandparents from Powys and is set to build on his seven caps in Cardiff on Thursday. Questions about his discipline off the ball have been answered, helped by a stint in central midfield as a 16-year-old to make sure he tracked runners. “Gary Brazil [Forest’s academy manager] has developed him in a great way,” says the interim Wales manager, Robert Page.
Those who have worked with Johnson say the same thing about his character. “He is a genuine, quiet, modest man,” Bodin says. “But once he is unleashed on to the pitch, he is a different animal.”
It seems inevitable that Johnson will be in the top flight next season – ideally with Forest. He set the tone on the opening day at Coventry last August, picking up possession on the half-turn inside his own half before tearing down the right and putting the ball on a plate for Lyle Taylor on the edge of the six-yard box. “I thought: ‘He’s arrived,’” says Bodin. A few weeks later Johnson smacked in his first Forest goal to equalise at Derby and he has since eased into double figures.
It was a similar story on loan last season at Lincoln City, for whom Johnson thrived after a debut cameo off the bench. “In those 20 minutes you knew immediately what kind of impact he was going to have on us as a group,” says Lincoln’s head coach, Michael Appleton, who played with Johnson’s father, David, at Manchester United. “The following game, against Blackpool, he started and won two penalties.”
Johnson is unpredictable, durable and lightning quick. “It’s one thing having pace but it is another thing knowing how to use it,” says Appleton. “When Brennan gets the ball, he always looks to turn and get forward. He never really passes up responsibility. A lot of young players now want everything to feet – not enough are prepared to run in behind but Brennan was prepared to do that, which I liked. I think I played Brennan in six positions. He just got on with it and was very comfortable. I think he will naturally end up as more of a No 9, because he is prepared to run without the ball and if he does that in more central areas he will probably get even more goals.”
Johnson sparkled for Lincoln en route to the League One play‑off final last May, the day Wales announced their Euro 2020 squad. Johnson was, Bodin says, a hairline from making the cut when Rubin Colwill, who was free to impress at a Wales training camp that month, was a surprise pick. Regardless, Johnson, who made his first competitive Wales start alongside Colwill in the crucial World Cup qualifying victory against Belarus in September, is primed to thrive.
The hard part will be deciding where he plays, with Bale at home on the right, where Johnson has predominantly featured for Forest. Wales are set to revert to operating with a false No 9 with Kieffer Moore injured. “Gareth has been an absolute legend for his country but he knows he’s got somebody young in Brennan who is snapping at his heels and is wanting that jersey,” Page says.