The future of Sam Johnstone is a story that has dominated the scene at West Brom for a while now, with a seemingly continuous level of interest surfacing for the Albion shot-stopper. 

According to The Evening Standard, Crystal Palace are in advanced talks with the English shot-stopper who will be hoping to board the plane to Qatar later this year.

Winning the club's Player of the Season award during their 2020/21 relegation campaign, and claiming 15 clean sheets in 36 games last time out, he has proven to be an extremely important figure for the Baggies during his time with the club.

Assessing whether Crystal Palace would be a good destination for Johnstone, Carlton Palmer told FLW: "There's been a lot of interest from the likes of spurs and what have you.

"But with the World Cup coming up and at the age he is, you can't go to a club now and sit on the bench.

"You've got to go to a club and be the number one, so Crystal Palace have had a fantastic season under Patrick Vieira. He will go there it will be the number one keeper there.

"Yeah, it makes it makes absolute sense."

The verdict 

As Palmer quite rightly points out, his ambitions to make the World Cup squad makes his next destination pivotal, with a move to Crystal Palace looking rather favourable.

If South London was to be his next move, then he would have a better chance of becoming the club's first-team shot-stopper than if he ended up at Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United.

A player that has proved himself in England's top tier before, and is highly-rated within the national team set up, Johnstone could be a shrewd addition at a Crystal Palace side that have been impressive under Vieira's stewardship.