Crystal Palace has made a significant change to their squad numbers, stripping Sam Johnstone of the No 1 shirt and handing it to Dean Henderson ahead of the new season. This move comes after Henderson’s impressive performance last season, where he started 18 Premier League matches between December and May, while Johnstone only featured in four top-flight games following the turn of the year.
Henderson’s promotion to No 1 has resulted in Johnstone being downgraded to No 32, a number that had been vacant since Levi Lumeka left the club in 2019. Johnstone took to Instagram to share his new squad number with his followers, posting a selfie of himself wearing the new number on a training shirt.
Sam Johnstone pictured playing for Crystal Palace last month in a friendly at Crawley Town
Johnstone has been replaced by Dean Henderson (pictured at the weekend) as Palace’s No 1
Johnstone’s Instagram post featured a flashing colourful circle around his new number, accompanied by the caption “New day new number” and four laughing emojis. The sarcastic tone of the post suggests that Johnstone is not thrilled about the change.
Both Henderson and Johnstone have represented England at senior international level. Johnstone has four caps to his name, while Henderson went to Euro 2024 with England but did not feature in any games. His one and only cap to date came back in 2020 when he played 45 minutes in a 3-0 victory over Ireland.
Crystal Palace finished 10th in the Premier League last season after winning six of their last seven fixtures. The Eagles will begin the 2024-25 campaign on Sunday with a trip to Brentford.
Sam Johnstone appears to mock Crystal Palace in sarcastic Instagram post after being stripped of his No 1 shirt and given a MUCH bigger number