Stoke City to complete £1m Rotherham United signing

The Potters want to get business done early in the window.

Stoke City are set to finalize a deal to sign Rotherham United goalkeeper Viktor Johansson this week. Johansson’s future at the New York Stadium has long been clear.

Following the season’s final game, manager Steve Evans predicted that the 25-year-old would leave the club within a fortnight.

Evans noted that there were numerous top second-tier sides interested in Johansson, and the Potters appear to be the front-runners in the battle to sign the shot-stopper at a reduced price.

Stoke City set to sign Rotherham’s Viktor Johansson

According to John Percy of The Telegraph, the Swedish international will have a physical on Friday before moving to the bet365 Stadium in a deal worth more than £1 million.

Stoke exercised a clause in the Rotherham captain’s contract that permitted him to go at a reduced fee if the Millers were relegated to League One. Other EFL clubs, like Leeds United and Derby County, were said to be interested in Johansson, but City appear to have won the race to sign him.

The Rotherham Advertiser broke the news of Johansson’s latest deal with the Millers, which included a low release clause. They claimed that the Swede’s two-and-a-half-year contract, signed while Matt Taylor was still in charge, featured a clause allowing him to quit the club for a seven-figure price.

Journalist Alan Nixon later wrote on Patreon that the value of the release clause was barely shy of that figure, at £900,000. According to the same report, Stoke are leading the battle to sign Johansson, although the newly promoted Rams are still interested in him.

Viktor Johansson is a brilliant signing for Stoke

The Potters haven’t had a consistent number one between the sticks this season, with Mark Travers, Jack Bonham, and Daniel Iversen all making nearly the same number of league appearances and starts.

With or without injury, the Swedish number one should now hold that rank. His goalkeeping statistics were among the finest in the league last season, and have been for some time.

Johansson’s goals conceded per game are lower than those of the Potters’ goalkeepers, which is expected given the Rotherham squad in which he played. The players in front of him were not up to par.

The saves per game and goals prevented should definitely delight Stoke fans. It will be interesting to see how he performs when he is continually required to make saves. Keeping that attention for 90 minutes when your team isn’t always under attack is one of the most difficult things to do, and it will be challenged next season.

But one thing is certain: his ability to prevent the ball from entering the back of the net is second to none in this competition.