Brennan Johnson is “a complete Premier League footballer” who is primed to thrive in the top flight this season, according to Nottingham Forest assistant boss Alan Tate.
Wales forward Johnson had a spectacular breakthrough campaign as Forest returned to the top flight last season.
Tate says Johnson, 21, is “definitely the future of Welsh football”.
“We all know the excitement that Brennan is bringing to the nation,” Tate said.
“When I was back home [in Wales] in the summer, he was the big topic with anyone I spoke to.
“People wanted to know what Brennan was like – is he as good as the form he was showing at the end of last season and also with Wales against Belgium and Holland in the summer?
“The only answer I could give was that he is. He is a brilliant lad, quite quiet, but works really hard. In front of goal he is really good and he is definitely the future of Welsh football.”
Nottingham-born Johnson, the son of former Forest striker David, made his senior debut for the City Ground club in 2019 after coming through the academy.
He began making his mark in senior football during a loan spell at Lincoln in 2020-21 before scoring 19 goals in 53 appearances as Forest won promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.
Steve Cooper’s side go in search of a first win since returning to the top division when they host West Ham on Sunday, having lost on the opening weekend at Newcastle United.
“We were talking about Brenna in the build-up to the Newcastle game. Just before pre-match food, we had a walk around Newcastle as staff,” former Swansea City defender Tate told BBC Radio Wales Sport.
“We were talking about the rise Brennan has had. This will be his third full season of first-team football.
“The first one was a loan spell at Lincoln, the second was an unbelievable spell with us last year, with the goals and goal contributions he had and the focus other teams had on him.
“For his third season in men’s football to be a Premier League season with a World Cup in the middle of it – I can’t think of a more meteoric rise.
“He just keeps adapting to the level and getting better and better. We saw that in pre-season.
“He has come back in and he looks really fit, he looks stronger, he gets taller every time I see him. He looks like a complete Premier League footballer as well as an athlete.”
