While the spectre of Bale is inescapable with Wales, Johnson had another impossible act to follow at Spurs, joining in the same transfer window that saw Harry Kane leave for Bayern Munich.
“He came in at quite a weird time for the club. I’m not sure they really had a good plan for how to replace Kane,” says Jack Pitt-Brooke, who covers Spurs for The Athletic.
“Johnson came in at a difficult moment but, with injuries to other players, he ended up playing tons that year and he was actually pretty good.”
It helped that it was then-Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou who signed Johnson, who scored 23 goals in all competitions during his first two seasons.
“He fitted what Ange wanted from wingers,” Pitt-Brooke adds. “Really high and wide, scoring goals where a winger goes down one side, pulls the ball back across the box, and the opposite side winger taps it in. Johnson was good at both delivering that cross, and also tapping it in at the far post.”
Under Postecoglou, Spurs won the Europa League – with Johnson scoring the winner in the final against Manchester United – but the Australian was sacked this summer after the club finished 17th in the Premier League.
Thomas Frank replaced him – and the Dane replaced Johnson, with Kudus.
“Frank wants to play a different way, and he wants his wingers to do a lot more on the ball than just score tap-ins,” says Pitt-Brooke.
“Spurs paid £55m for Kudus, who doesn’t score many goals, but everything until he gets to the opposition goal is much better than Johnson.
“At the moment, I don’t think any Spurs fan would have Johnson in their first-choice team. It’s not really clear where he fits.”
Johnson has managed four goals in his 17 appearances in all competitions this season but, according to many supporters and pundits, does not offer much else.
“He doesn’t really do a lot apart from scoring goals,” says Pitt-Brooke. “There are obviously worse things to be than a guy who’s just known for scoring goals, but I think people would probably have expected him to have done more.
“He’s a bit of a mystery.”
