Player Profile

Johnson began his career under Harry Redknapp at West Ham but after just 16 appearances and a loan spell at Millwall the 18-year-old became the first signing for new Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in 2003 for £6million. Johnson made his Chelsea debut against Liverpool on 17 August 2003 while Harry Kewell and Steve Finnan played their first game for the Reds. Chelsea won 2-1 with Johnson playing for 73 minutes before being replaced by William Gallas. Only three months later he played his first game for England against Denmark. Johnson's stock was rising high. He was a regular in the 2003/04 season that turned out to be Claudio Raineri's last and featured in the second half of the 2004/05 Premiership-winning season under Jose Mourinho. Johnson played rarely in the following campaign and spent the whole of the 2006/07 on loan at Portsmouth. After four years with the Blues, Pompey purchased Johnson for £4 million in August 2007. Johnson won the FA Cup with Portsmouth in 2008 and despite Portsmouth finishing just below mid table he was selected at right-back in the PFA Team of the Year 2008/09. His screaming left-foot volley against Hull on 22 November 2008 was BBC's Match of the Day's Goal of the Season. 

Johnson was hardly pleased with his first season at Anfield although he appeared in 35 of the club's 56 competitive matches. He scored in two of the opening four League matches to enhance his reputation as an attacking full-back. Defensively he maybe wasn't quite as sound but that is an accusation that could be levelled at a number of his colleagues too. Johnson was injured in the closing stages of Liverpool's victory at Aston Villa between Christmas and New Year and did not play again until coming on as a substitute at Wigan in March. With fitness as well as form being an important factor before England's World Cup squad was announced in May, Johnson came safely through the final few League matches of the season in which he was picked from the start. Like his club captain Steven Gerrard, Johnson played from the start in all four of England's matches in South Africa, being substituted only towards the end of the last 16 defeat by Germany.

Johnson figured in 28 of the 38 Premier League matches in 2010/11 and added a further 7 appearances in the Europa League. Towards the end of the season he was sometimes asked to switch to the left to accommodate the emergence of Jon Flanagan on the right. Although Johnson figured in less than 60% of Liverpool's first-team matches in 2011/12, he took his total of appearances for the club to one short of a century. He won his first winners' medal with the club and scored a tidy penalty in the shoot-out that followed the drawn League Cup final with Cardiff City. Johnson featured for the England team in Euro 2012 and reached the quarter-finals. Brendan Rodgers' arrival revitalised Johnson's career at Liverpool initially . He played a number of games as a left-winger where he could attack at will and showed desire to succeed that had been sadly lacking until then. Johnson missed only two Premier League matches in 2012/13 to take his total of appearances for Liverpool close to the one hundred and fifty mark. He also scored twice, at home to Gomel in the Europa League and away to one of his former clubs, West Ham United, in the Premier League.

Even the player himself would probably admit that his form was patchy during the 2013/14 season. For the first time since arriving at Liverpool in 2009 Johnson went through a season without scoring a goal for his club. But he still appeared in 30 of the club's 38 competitive matches and was included in Roy Hodgson's squad for the World Cup finals in Brazil. Johnson played throughout England's first two group matches against Italy and Uruguay. But with England eliminated after two defeats he was an unused substitute in the final group match against Costa Rica.

In 2014/15, the final year of his Liverpool contract, Johnson appeared for the first team twenty-eight times, which took his total of appearances for the club up to exactly two hundred. His only goal of the season was the late winner against Stoke City at Anfield at the end of November 2014. After Johnson's contract expired in the summer of 2015 he joined Mark Hughes' Stoke City keeping himself in the Premier League. He was a regular and consistent performer until injuring his knee in February and when Stoke dropped down the table, manager Mark Hughes cited Johnson's absence as one of the main reasons. In 2016-17 he appeared 25 times and signed a contract extension, but in 2017-18 he was out of favour and made only seven starts. He was released at the end of a season that saw Stoke relegated and was without a club for the first half of 2018-19. On 8th January 2018 he launched his investment business 'Bed of Honey' and on the 21st of that month he confirmed his retirement from the game.