Glen Johnson
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Glen McLeod Johnson | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Right Back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Chelsea | ||
| Number | 2 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 December, 2006 | |||
Glen McLeod Johnson (born August 23, 1984 in Greenwich, London) is an English footballer who plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League and has won 5 caps for England. He is a defender in the right back position, and can also play at centre-back or in midfield.
In summer 2003 London-born Johnson was bought by Claudio Ranieri from West Ham United for £6 million, having had a loan spell at Millwall. The first purchase of the Abramovich era at Chelsea, the attacking full back scored his debut goal for Chelsea in the 5-0 romp of Newcastle United in November 2003. He scored three more goals that season as he enjoyed more game time under Ranieri.
Despite not establishing himself as a first-choice team member just yet, he is rated very highly and is seen as a good technical player and defender.
During his time with the England Under-21s, Johnson was handed his full England debut in November 2003 against Denmark, coming on as a substitute for the injured Gary Neville after 16 minutes.
As season 2005-06 unfolded Johnson was still only a squad player at Chelsea with Paulo Ferreira being the regular at right-back. Following a poor performance in England's friendly in Denmark in August 2005 he lost his position as Gary Neville's understudy in the squad to Luke Young who played in both the subsequent World Cup qualifiers. However, the then England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson still regards Johnson as the best up-and-coming right back in England. Johnson made one appearance in the Premier League for Chelsea that season, starting the 4-0 win against West Bromwich Albion in place of Ferreira. Versatile squad player Geremi also provided extra competition for Johnson at right-back under José Mourinho. As a result, Johnson joined Portsmouth in a season long loan in June 2006.
Johnson made a fine start to his spell with Portsmouth as part of the defence that didn't concede a single goal in the first five games of the 2006-07 season.
Johnson reportedly had several rifts with Jose Mourinho, most notably when he forgot his passport for the second leg of the Champions League match against Barcelona.[1] Johnson was surrounded by further controversy when he was caught speeding in his Aston Martin.[2]
On January 17 2007, Glen Johnson and his former Millwall teammate Ben May were caught at a B&Q store in Dartford, Kent attempting to steal bathroom fittings. They both received £80 fines.[3]
References
- ^ "Boozy ace missed flight". The Sun.
- ^ "England star banned from driving". BBC News Online. 2005-02-21.
- ^ "Footballers fined over shop theft". BBC.
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External links
- FootballDatabase profile
- BBC profile
- Glen Johnson at Soccerbase
- Profile, stats, photo at 4thegame.com
- Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
- Photo and profile at premierleague.com
- Johnson's ankle injury at SkySports.com