Brennan Johnson is benefiting from the “extreme” demands placed on him by Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou and proving himself to be an elite player, says his Wales manager Rob Page.
Johnson has taken time to settle at Spurs following his £47.5million move from Nottingham Forest during the closing minutes of the summer transfer window.
The 22-year-old forward has yet to score and suffered a hamstring injury on his first Premier League start for Tottenham, ruling him out of action for a month.
Johnson’s second Premier League start against Chelsea on Monday also ended prematurely when he was sacrificed after Spurs were reduced to 10 men by defender Cristian Romero’s red card.
But Johnson has shown signs of promise in North London with a superb assist for Son Heung-min’s winner at Crystal Palace, while he also set up the Spurs skipper for a disallowed effort against Chelsea before his first-half withdrawal.
“Brennan’s at a big, big club now pushing for top four so the demands on him will be extreme,” said Page, who welcomed Johnson back into his squad after injury for this month’s decisive Euro 2024 qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey.
“The squad of players he’s got around him now will be slightly different, but I’m not concerned at all. Even by training with the players he’s with will bring him to another level.
“We’ve all seen the potential. When I worked with him at the Under-21s and the younger age groups, I could see he was going to go (to the top).
“It’s taken him a little bit of time to get up to that standard, but he’s shown glimpses of it.
“What is important now is that he sustains that level by playing with those players and the demands of the manager there. He will absolutely do that.”
Johnson has only scored twice in 22 Wales appearances – against Belgium and the Netherlands in the Nations League – and that is a disappointing return for a player considered to be Gareth Bale’s natural successor in the Dragons’ forward line.
Page suggested that is down to the way Wales have previously been structured as a team but he insists, as evidenced by last month’s stunning 2-1 win over World Cup semi-finalists Croatia, they are evolving as an attacking unit.
He said: “The majority of the games in the World Cup and Nations League A we were the underdogs and not going to have a lot of the ball.
“Our defensive structure has to be spot on if not you’re going to get found out, but as we evolve I’m asking more from the forward players and we saw that against Croatia.
“I brought Jack Lester in (as assistant coach), who’s one of the best forwards I played with and coaches I’ve seen. It was an area I wanted to improve and I’ve seen a difference already.”
Wales will avoid the play-offs in March and qualify automatically for next summer’s Euro 2024 finals in Germany if they beat Armenia in Yerevan on November 18 and Turkey in Cardiff three days later.
Page said: “I like Brennan as a nine purely because of his pace. He did that for us in Latvia (when Wales won 2-0 in September) and there’s not a defender out there who’s going to want to play against him and DJ (Daniel James) because pace frightens defenders.
“But I’m not going to pigeonhole him as a nine. He can play in any one of the front three positions easily.”
Milan 3-3 Salernitana: Rossoneri denied late on in Pioli's farewell
Milan ended their Serie A campaign with a disappointing 3-3 home draw against relegated Salernitana on Saturday in what was the last game at the club for coach Stefano Pioli and striker Olivier Giroud.
The Rossoneri looked set to cruise to victory when Davide Calabria put them 3-1 up in the 77th minute at San Siro.
Rafael Leao, who may well be on the move in the upcoming transfer window, had put Milan ahead after capitalising on a dreadful mistake from Salernitana goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo in the 22nd minute.
Giroud doubled the advantage five minutes later, volleying home from an Alessandro Florenzi corner to mark his farewell appearance in style before he joins MLS club Los Angeles FC.
Salernitana pulled a goal back through forward Simy in the second half before Calabria restored the hosts' two-goal lead, with Pioli seemingly sailing towards a victory in his last match.
Yet Junior Sambia and Simy levelled with two quick-fire goals in the dying moments to deny second-place Milan a victory to end the season.
Data Debrief: Giroud heads off into the sunset in style
Giroud finished the Serie A season with 23 goal involvements (15 goals and eight assists); only twice in his career has he managed a better tally in a single season in the big five European leagues: 24 in 2013-14 with Arsenal and 30 in 2011-12 with Montpellier.
Indeed, the 37-year-old is the oldest player among those with at least 23 goals involvement in the big five European leagues this season.
Christian Pulisic grabbed an assist, meanwhile, to become only the second Milan midfielder to be involved in 20+ goals (12 goals, eight assists) in a single Serie A season, after Kaka (20 in 2005-06, 26 in 2007-08, 25 in 2008-09) in the last 20 seasons.
Kaiserslautern 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen: Xhaka stunner seals DFB-Pokal triumph
Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen battled past second-tier Kaiserslautern 1-0 on Saturday to win the DFB-Pokal and secure the club's first domestic double.
Leverkusen missed out on a treble after losing 3-0 to Atalanta in the Europa League final on Wednesday, in what was astonishingly their first defeat of the season in all competitions, after a European record 51-game unbeaten run.
But at Berlin's Olympic stadium, which will host the Euro 2024 final in July, Xabi Alonso's side ensured they capped off a remarkable campaign with another piece of silverware thanks to Granit Xhaka's stunning 16th-minute strike.
The ball rolled out to the former Arsenal man around 25 yards out, and he planted an unstoppable first-time effort into the left-hand side of the net.
They controlled the pace even after they were reduced to 10 men following Odilon Kossounou's second booking a minute before half-time.
Kaiserslautern rarely threatened after the break, with Leverkusen limiting their opponents to just 0.2 expected goals.
And even though they could not add to their lead, Leverkusen were able to comfortably wrap up their second trophy of the best season in the club's history.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen join the club
Leverkusen are only the fifth different side to win the double in Germany since the Bundesliga was founded, after Bayern Munich (13 times), 1. Koln, Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund.
Xhaka's strike was a worthy winner. He became the first Swiss player to score in a DFB-Pokal final.
Barcelona coach Giraldez celebrates 'one of the happiest days' after Women's Champions League triumph
Barcelona coach Jonatan Giraldez celebrated "one of the happiest days" of his life after his side claimed the Women's Champions League title.
Giraldez led Barca to a 2-0 victory over fellow heavyweights Lyon in Bilbao on Saturday.
Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas got the goals in the second half, as Barca beat Lyon for the first time and won the Champions League for a third season out of the last four.
Giraldez will now leave Barca to take charge of Washington Spirit in the NWSL, but was able to leave on the highest note possible, having won a quadruple this term, becoming the first European team since Arsenal in 2007 to manage such a haul in a single campaign.
He told DAZN: "It was an incredible game, I am really happy, one of the best days of my life for sure.
"We did an amazing job with the ball, without the ball. we suffered in the last minutes, but I'm very proud of all of them."
Barcelona defender Lucy Bronze, whose future with the club is uncertain, told DAZN: "We knew that that's what we needed, to be a club to make history.
"It's not easy, it's hard to win it once. To win it back to back, Lyon showed how difficult it is and this team has finally done that. We go down in history as one of the best teams in Europe."
Barca's two Ballon d'Or winners scored their goals, with Bonmati breaking the deadlock just after the hour before Putellas lashed home in stoppage time.
"She's the captain of the team, she's the Queen of Barcelona for a reason," Bronze said of Putellas.
"She's always so confident in the team and showed today why she is a back-to-back Ballon d'Or winner.
"She's got the quality to do that in the last minute of the Champions League final when we were up against it at the end and just sealed the win for us. It was amazing."
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