Aston Villa 2017-18 player preview: Sam Johnstone

The problem with being a goalkeeper is that you are directly responsible for your teams success and failure. Every single goal that you let in leads to your team’s downfall - what’s more, there’s not much room for recognition - if you want to start for your national team, you must be the best player in that position in the country.

Sam Johnstone? He might not start for England, he might not make the bench - but we doubt he’s inclined to think about those type of things. He’s a carefree character, and his tricky spell at the beginning to his stint at Villa would have ruined anyone else - but he came past it and started shutting out teams. Johnstone’s form led to Villa rising up the table.

Villa couldn’t get him on a permanent deal, and we aren’t surprised, this guy has talent and he’s very comfortable with the ball at his feet. He could go on to big things, but to do that - he needs to make a success of his second loan spell at Villa. If he does that, he’ll have a big hand in propelling Villa to the Premier League, but he has to be more ‘March Sam Johnstone’ than ‘February Sam Johnstone’.