Johnstone hints his Old Trafford career is over

Kolkata, April 13: Sam Johnstone, the goalkeeper, who is on loan from Manchester United at Aston Villa, has hinted that he may make his move permanent at the club if it gets promotion this year.

Though the 25-year-old has been at United since his childhood, he never got a break at Old Trafford. He has had 10 loan spells at seven different clubs during his 15 years at the club.

Johnstone was loaned out again by Jose Mourinho this season as he was way behind David de Gea, Sergio Romero and highly-rated 21-year-old Joel Pereira in the pecking order at United.

This time, Steve Bruce's Villa got hold of him in the summer for the full season and the English keeper has proved to be one of the best goalkeepers at the Championship.

Villa are currently fourth in the table and likely to make it to the play-off spot which could give them the berth as the third team to get the promotion.

Rumour mills are also strong Johnstone has made up his mind to move away from United in the coming transfer window and has chosen the Villa Park as next possible destination.

He has only has one year left on his deal and reportedly will command a fee as low as £5million.

And now talking about his future, Johnstone has admitted he is ready to leave United in order to get regular football. However, he hinted that the claret and blues may need to get promoted to keep him.

"I want to play every week. At Man United you are probably not going to play every week," Johnstone told British media.

"I only have a year left on my contract. I'm just enjoying my time here. I'm concentrating on Villa at the moment.

'It's just a case of waiting, hopefully get Villa promoted and then sit down in the summer - hopefully after a few holidays - and see where I'm at. I want to carry on playing football.'

Johnstone also added he cannot wait around forever to be given an opportunity at United and with De Gea at the helm he sees very little opportunity to excel at his boyhood club.

"He (De Gea) is the best goalkeeper in the world.

"At United I would watch him every day. He’s not much older than me but you just pick things up from him.

"He's very calm – that’s the one thing I’ve taken from him. But obviously his biggest quality is his shot-stopping which is unbelievable.

"It’s very tough anyway to break in at a club like Man United. I’ve been there since I was 10-years-old but I was happy to play last year for Villa and get a full season this year.

"I'm enjoying playing football, I’m 25 now and you want to play every week."

Johnstone has made 41 appearance in the Championship for Villa this season and kept 18 clean sheets. And should Bruce able to make Johnstone's move permanent at the end of the campaign, it would surely be an excellent addition for them.