Reports emerging from Italy suggest that there is interest in Brennan Johnson as Palace face a tricky decision in terms of the Welshman’s future. 

Johnson was only signed in January for a then club record fee of £35 million, but after he struggled to find form in a red and blue shirt, he could find his way out the door ahead of the new campaign. 

LaViola have reported that Fiorentina are interested in Johnson, but the report is unclear whether that would be for a move on loan or a permanent switch. 

There’s a clear issue with confidence when it comes to Johnson, and whilst he deserves time to prove himself, it’s important to remember that he is a professional footballer earning lots of money, and he is not immune to criticism. 

Ultimately, if Palace were able to recoup even half of the original outlay, they’d be doing a good job. 

The alternative option would be a loan move, and that would relieve Palace of his hefty wages, which again would open up SCR headroom for Palace to reenter the transfer market.

A loan move would also mean that Johnson can hopefully go out and rediscover the form that led to Palace signing him in the first place. 

His current deal still has four years left to run, so there is a chance he could go away and come back rejuvenated, and Palace could finally see return for the transfer fee, but after his performances in pre-season the general feeling is that this would be unlikely. 

Of course, reimbursing Johnson’s fee would make a big difference, but there are other players that Palace can sell to really impact their ability to spend money this summer. 

Selling ‘homegrown’ players makes a significant impact to SCR. For example, if Palace were to sell David Ozoh for £5 million, this would allow for £25 million of spending. That may clear up some of the confusion around why the club would be willing to sell their homegrown academy players, and the likes of Jesurun Rak-Sakyi would also fit into this category. 

Palace are actually not that close to a breach of the SCR rules, and we’ll cover that in an article later today, but making these sales would only open up more spending power and remove the excuses for Palace’s lack of movement in the window.