Stoke City to complete £1m Rotherham United signing | OneFootball

Stoke City are expected to complete a deal to sign Rotherham United goalkeeper Viktor Johansson this week.

The future of Johansson at the New York Stadium hasn't been in any doubt for some time. Manager Steve Evans said, after the final game of the season, that he expected the 25-year-old to have left the club within a fortnight.

Evans added that there were some top second tier sides in for Johansson, and the Potters are the ones who look like they will come out on top in the race to sign the shot-stopper at a cut-price rate.

Stoke City set to sign Rotherham's Viktor Johansson

John Percy of The Telegraph has reported that the Swedish international is set to have a medical on Friday ahead of a move to the bet365 stadium, in a deal that will be worth over £1 million.

Stoke activated a clause in the Rotherham captain's contract which allowed him to leave for that reduced price if the Millers were relegated to League One.

Other EFL sides like Leeds United and Derby County were reported to have been interested in Johansson too, but City appear to have won the race for him.

The news around the existence of the cheap release clause in Johansson's latest deal with the Millers was broken by the Rotherham Advertiser.

They said that, in the two-and-a-half year deal that the Swede signed when Matt Taylor was still in charge, the clause that would allow him to leave the club for a seven-figure fee was included.

Journalist Alan Nixon later reported, via his Patreon, that the value of said release clause was actually just short of that mark; clocking in at £900,000. In that same report, he said Stoke were leading the race to sign him, but that the newly-promoted Rams still held an interest in Johansson.

Viktor Johansson is a brilliant signing for Stoke

The Potters haven't had a settled number one between the sticks this season, with Mark Travers, Jack Bonham and Daniel Iversen all sharing roughly the same amount of league appearances and starts this season. Now that spot should be locked down by the Swedish number one, withstanding injury.

His goalkeeping stats were some of the best in the league last season, and they have been for a while now.

Johansson's goals conceded per game are down on the glovesman that played for the Potters, but that is very understandable given the Rotherham team he was playing in. The players in front of him were not up to the level. It's the saves per game and the goals prevented that should really make Stoke fans excited.

It will be interesting to see how he performs when he's constantly having to make saves. Keeping that concentration for 90 minutes when your team aren't constantly under threat is one of the harder things to do, and that will be tested next season.

But one thing that is for sure is his ability to stop the ball from hitting the back of the net is pretty much second to none in this league.