The future of this Portsmouth star is unclear

The future of Portsmouth defender, Glen Johnson, is very unclear, as reports have emerged that Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa have expressed an interest in signing him at the end of the season.

Johnson has secured a starting place in the Pompey side this year and has even impressed Fabio Capello to earn regular call-ups to the international side. However, his future at Fratton Park is uncertain, as the former Chelsea right back has expressed an interest to move on to a bigger club.

Portsmouth have put a price tag of £16 million on Johnson, which seems a little bit too high. However, in the modern climate of world football it would not be a surprise to anyone if any of the clubs interested fork out the amount of cash for a player who is clearly improving every time he plays.

Johnson has made 27 appearances for Portsmouth this season, scoring three times in his 2422 minutes on the pitch. What makes him such a valuable asset to Portsmouth is his endless energy displayed up and down the right flank, he is just as capable of getting forward in the same way that Patrice Evra does at Manchester United and Ashley Cole at Chelsea.

Liverpool would probably be the most likely club to get Johnson’s signature, as they don’t currently have an out and out right back, although Spurs could be a popular choice as the geographical move from Portsmouth would not be too problematic.

This does not even take into account the impressive progress that Villa have made this season under Martin O’Neill and Johnson wouldn’t be blamed by anyone if he chose to join a budding side on the verge of securing a Champions League spot.

If Johnson were allowed to leave then it would be very hard for Portsmouth to replace him. The club have not had the best of seasons and have relied on players like Johnson to save them on regular occasions. Allowing their best assets to leave can surely only end in more problems as opposed to saving them.

Portsmouth lose only 5 per cent of games when Johnson plays and have not lost when he has managed to get to the other end of the pitch and knock in a goal. Although his discipline is still questionable, no amount of enthusiasm and passion can be sacrificed for the greater good of finances and Pompey having greater ability to ease their financial worries.

His international career is still very much in the infancy stages and a move away from Southern England could see this transform into regularity. Chelsea obviously saw something in him when they signed him from West Ham United, but the inconsistency was too much to cope with.

Now that this consistency is settling down, Johnson is starting to show the potential and talent that everyone has known he possesses for a very long time. Whether it’s Liverpool, Spurs, Villa or Pompey he is turning out for nest year, whoever has his services has one of the most gifted right backs in the game.