Adam Johnson
Personal information
Full name	Adam Johnson
Date of birth	14 July 1987 (1987-07-14) (age 22)
Place of birth	Sunderland, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Left winger
Club information
Current club	Middlesbrough
Number	18
Youth career
	Middlesbrough
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004– 2006 2007	Middlesbrough → Leeds United (loan) → Watford (loan)	084 0(10) 005 00(0) 012 00(6)
National team2
2007–2009	England U21	019 00(4)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:56, 24 October 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 21:15, 29 June 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Adam Johnson (born 14 July 1987) is an English footballer, currently playing for Middlesbrough. He is a left-winger but can also play on the right-wing.

[edit] Career

[edit] Middlesbrough

Though born in Sunderland, Johnson was taken in by Middlesbrough's youth academy as a teenager after being spotted by club scouts at a East Durham school-age match.^[1] He is one of the many players in the current first team to graduate from Middlesbrough's acclaimed Academy to the first team in recent years. He and Boro teammates David Wheater and Andrew Taylor were part of the squad that won the 2003–04 FA Youth Cup.

The youngster made his senior debut aged seventeen on 17 March 2005 in the UEFA Cup in the 1–0 defeat away to Sporting Lisbon. Almost six months later he made his Premiership debut, and first senior start, deputising for an injured Stewart Downing in a 2–1 home win against Arsenal. For much of the first half of the 2005-06 season he was on the bench as an unused substitute, mainly in the UEFA Cup matches. He made his second start in the competition against Litex Lovech on 15 December and set up Massimo Maccarone's first goal in a 2-0 win.^[2] For the rest of the season, he managed to make appearances, albeit as Downing's deputy or an unused substitute.^[1]

Johnson's first goal for Middlesbrough came in a midweek English Premier League game against Bolton Wanders on the 3 May 2006. He was playing due to Middlesbrough's involvement in the UEFA Cup final which was to be played a week later as Steve McClaren rested most of the first team squad. On 30 June, he signed a new four-year contract extension.^[3]

On 16 October 2006 he joined Leeds United on a month-long loan, playing five times. Later on in the season he came on as a substitute in the FA Cup replay with Bristol City and played a vital role in seeing Middlesbrough through to the next round by setting up one goal and scoring the winning penalty in the shootout.

In September 2007 Johnson joined Championship side Watford on a three month loan.^[4] He played 12 games for the club, scoring 5 times, before being recalled to Middlesbrough earlier than stipulated in the deal following some brilliant performances. In the final game of the season, he scored a 18-yard strike from a loose ball just minutes after coming on as a substitute in Boro's 8-1 thrashing of Manchester City.^[5] In the 2008-09 season, he made 32 appearances overall and more than half of those were substitute appearances as Downing was the first choice left winger.^[6][7]

Johnson has become an integral part of Boro's now Championship side for the 2009-10 season following Downing's transfer to Aston Villa, scoring three of Boro's five goals in the first three games. In the 18 August match at Scunthorpe, he missed a penalty awarded for a foul on Rhys Williams and scored another after being tripped by the Scunthorpe goalkeeper in the penalty box when both went for the rebound.^[8] After a bright start to the season, the highly-rated youngster became a subject of transfer rumours with several Premier League clubs reported to be interested^[9] but the Boro management had already insisted that he will not be sold.^[10] However he has yet to extend his contract and his current deal ends after the 2009-10 season.

In recognition of his consistent performances, Johnson was voted for the North East Football Writers Young Player of the Year award^[11], joining a string of Boro players to do so.

[edit] International

A former U19 international, Johnson was called-up for the 2009 UEFA U21 Championships in Sweden. He scored once in qualification^[12] and again in the first leg of the qualification play-offs against Wales U21s as the Young Lions narrowly won 5-4 on aggregate to qualify for the tournament. During the tournament he started in 2 of the 3 group stage matches. He won the Man of the Match award in the final group stage match against Germany that ended in a 1-1 draw^[13] and converted his penalty in the semifinal shoot-out win against Sweden.

[edit] Career Statistics

As of 24 November 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Adam Johnson career stats at Soccerbase