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Glen Johnson

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Glen Johnson
Personal information
Full name Glen McLeod Johnson
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Right back, right midfield
Team information
Current team
Portsmouth
(on loan from Chelsea)
Number 4
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2006-08-31

Glen McLeod Johnson (born August 23 1984) is an English footballer who is currently on a season long loan from Chelsea at Portsmouth in the English Premier League. He is a defender in the right back position though can also play at centre-back or even in midfield.

London-born Johnson was bought by Claudio Ranieri from West Ham United for £6 million, he had previously had a loan spell at Millwall. He was the first purchase of the Abramovich era at Chelsea. He is a very attacking full back and scored his debut goal for Chelsea in the 5-0 romp of Newcastle United in November 2003. He scored 4 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.

Still a regular with 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. It was because of this that Johnson joined Portsmouth in a season long loan in June 2006.

Johnson has made a fine start to his spell with Portsmouth, becoming part of the defence that has only conceedeed once thus far.