Daniel Johnson (footballer)

Daniel Johnson

Johnson with Preston North End in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Daniel Anthony Johnson [1]
Date of birth	(1992-10-08) 8 October 1992 (age 31) [2]
Place of birth	Kingston, Jamaica
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) [2]
Position(s)	Attacking Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Stoke City
Number	12
Youth career
2007–2009	Crystal Palace
2009–2011	Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2015	Aston Villa	0	(0)
2012	→ Yeovil Town (loan)	5	(0)
2014	→ Chesterfield (loan)	11	(0)
2014–2015	→ Oldham Athletic (loan)	6	(3)
2015–2023	Preston North End	312	(53)
2023–	Stoke City	26	(2)
International career‡
2020–	Jamaica	16	(3)
Medal record Men's football Representing   Jamaica CONCACAF Nations League 2024 United States Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:17, 10 February 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01:16, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Daniel Anthony Johnson (born 8 October 1992) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Stoke City and the Jamaica national team.

Johnson began his career with Aston Villa and after loan spells at Yeovil Town, Chesterfield and Oldham Athletic he joined Preston North End in January 2015 on a permanent transfer. He spent eight-and-a-half years at Deepdale making 336 appearances, scoring 57 goals before joining Stoke City in July 2023.

Career

Aston Villa

Born in Jamaica, Johnson moved with his family to London aged seven and played for Crystal Palace's academy as a schoolboy before moving on to Aston Villa's academy in 2009. ^[3] Johnson was called up to Aston Villa's first team for the first time, where he was an unused substitute in Villa's 2–1 League Cup win over Burnley on 27 October 2010. ^[4] In January 2011, Johnson signed his first professional contract at Villa Park. ^[5] In March 2012, he extended his contract to summer 2013. ^[6] In June 2013, Johnson signed a new two-year deal keeping him at the club until 2015, despite still awaiting his first team breakthrough. ^[7]

Johnson joined League One side Yeovil Town on 23 October 2012 on a month-long youth loan deal, ^[8] and made his Football League debut as a substitute that evening in Yeovil's 3–1 victory over Shrewsbury Town. ^[9] Johnson made five appearances for the Glovers before his loan was cut short a week early by manager Gary Johnson. ^[10] Johnson joined Chesterfield on a three-month loan in August 2014 and made his debut in a 2–1 away win over Port Vale on 30 August. ^{[11] [12]} Johnson played 13 times for Chesterfield before returning to Villa. ^[13] On 10 November 2014, Johnson joined another League One side, Oldham, on a two-month deal until 5 January 2015. ^[13] Johnson scored his first senior goal on his debut in a 1–1 draw against Crawley Town. ^[14] He also scored twice against local rivals Rochdale in a 3–0 victory. ^[15]

Preston North End

Johnson joined Preston North End on 23 January 2015 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £50,000, on a two-and-a-half year contract. ^[16] Johnson started life off well at Preston scoring 8 goals in 18 appearances as Preston finished the 2014–15 season in third missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season. ^[17] They progressed past Chesterfield in the League One play-offs semi-final before comfortably beating Swindon Town 4–0 in the final to gain promotion to the Championship. ^[18] Johnson was a regular in his first season playing in the second-tier making 44 appearacnes, scoring nine goals as North End finished in 11th position. ^{[19] [20]} Johnson signed a new two-year contract extension with Preston in August 2016. ^[21] He made the same amount of appearances in 2016–17, scoring four goals including twice against Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers on 10 December 2016. ^[22] Preston again finished the season in 11th place. ^[23] Johnson played 36 times in 2017–18 as the Lilywhites missed out on a play-off spot on the final day of the season. ^[24]

Johnson agreed a two-year contract extension with Preston in August 2018. ^[25] In 2018–19 under the management of Alex Neil, Preston were unable to push for a top half finish ending the campaign in 14th. ^[26] Johnson scored a career best of 12 goals in 2019–20, finishing top scorer as Preston ended up four points shy of a play-off spot in ninth. ^{[27] [28]} Johnson signed another contact extension in January 2021 keeping him at Deepdale until the summer of 2023. ^[29] The 2020–21 season was a frustrating one for North End as they were unable to put a consistent run of results together and finished in 13th. ^[30] They ended the 2021–22 season again in 13th place with Johnson making 45 appearances, scoring eight goals. ^[31] In his eighth and final season at Preston, Johnson played 38 times, scoring once in another mid-table finish. ^[31]

Preston announced on 27 June 2023 that Johnson would be leaving the club at the end of his contract after eight years at the club after making a total of 336 appearances, scoring 57 goals. ^[32] Manager Ryan Lowe stated he was disappointed that Johnson had decided to leave for a new challenge— "We're disappointed but DJ wants a new challenge. I had a fantastic relationship with DJ and all the players did and I'm sure all the fans did too, but sometimes people want fresh challenges and that's what DJ's told us he wants to do, and we have to respect that decision. He'll go down as a legend at the football club and rightly so because he's a very talented footballer". ^[33]

Stoke City

Johnson joined Stoke City on 19 July 2023 signing on a two-year deal, reuniting with manager Alex Neil. ^{[34] [35]} He scored his first goal for Stoke in a 2–2 draw with Huddersfield Town on 20 September 2023. ^[36] Neil was sacked in December 2023 and replaced by Steven Schumacher and after Johnson missed a penalty away at Blackburn Rovers in February 2024 he did not play again for the remainder of the 2023–24 season. ^[37]

International career

In June 2019, Johnson received an invite to play for the Jamaica national side for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July 2019. ^[38] On 31 August 2019, he was called up for Jamaica's CONCACAF Nations League matches against Antigua and Barbuda and Guyana. ^[39] However, on 5 September, Johnson withdrew from the squad, with his agent citing a lack of a direct flight from London to Montego Bay. ^[40] He debuted with the Jamaica national team in a 3–0 friendly loss to Saudi Arabia on 14 November 2020. ^[41]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 10 February 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Aston Villa	2012–13 [42]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2013–14 [43]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2014–15 [44]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Yeovil Town (loan)	2012–13 [42]	League One	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Chesterfield (loan)	2014–15 [44]	League One	11	0	0	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	13	0
Oldham Athletic (loan)	2014–15 [44]	League One	6	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	3
Preston North End	2014–15 [44]	League One	20	8	0	0	0	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	23	8
	2015–16 [45]	Championship	43	8	0	0	1	1	—		44	9
	2016–17 [46]	Championship	40	4	1	0	3	0	—		44	4
	2017–18 [47]	Championship	33	3	2	0	1	0	—		36	3
	2018–19 [48]	Championship	35	6	1	0	2	1	—		38	7
	2019–20 [27]	Championship	33	12	0	0	1	0	—		34	12
	2020–21 [49]	Championship	33	4	0	0	1	1	—		34	5
	2021–22 [50]	Championship	41	7	1	1	3	0	—		45	8
	2022–23 [31]	Championship	34	1	2	0	2	0	—		38	1
	Total		312	53	7	1	14	3	3	0	336	57
Stoke City	2023–24 [51]	Championship	26	2	1	0	2	0	—		29	2
Career total			360	58	9	1	17	3	4	0	390	62

1. Appearance in Football League Trophy
2. Appearances in the League One play-offs

International

As of match played 2 July 2023 ^[52]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Jamaica
	2020	2	1
	2021	5	0
	2022	4	1
	2023	5	1
Total		16	3

International goals

As of match played 2 July 2023. Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Johnson goal. ^[52]

List of international goals scored by Daniel Johnson

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 November 2020	Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	1–1	2–1	Friendly
2	27 January 2022	Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica	Mexico	1–0	1–2	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	2 July 2023	Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, United States	Saint Kitts and Nevis	4–0	5–0	2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Honours

Preston North End

• Football League One play-offs: 2015 ^[53]

Individual

• North West Football Awards Championship Player of the Year: 2020 ^[54]
• Preston North End Player of the Year: 2019–20 ^[55]

References

1. "Premier League Clubs submit Squad Lists" (PDF). Premier League. 25 October 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2013.
2. "Daniel Johnson". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
3. "Ex-Villan Daniel Johnson Interview Suggests Villa Backroom Staff Issues". My Old Man Said. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
4. "Aston Villa 2–1 Burnley (after extra time)". BBC Sport. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
5. "ACADEMY SKIPPER JOHNSON PUTS PEN TO PAPER ON NEW DEAL". Aston Villa. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
6. "New Villa deal for Johnson". Sky Sports. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
7. "Daniel Johnson signs new Aston Villa deal". Sports Mole. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
8. "Yeovil Town sign Aston Villa's Daniel Johnson on loan". BBC Sport. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
9. "Shrewsbury 1–3 Yeovil". BBC Sport. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
10. "Yeovil: Daniel Johnson's loan ends as Jaime Peters earns trial". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
11. "Chesterfield sign Daniel Johnson and Romuald Boco". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
12. "Port Vale 1–2 Chesterfield". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
13. "Oldham Athletic sign Aston Villa midfielder Daniel Johnson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
14. "Oldham Athletic 1-1 Crawley Town". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
15. "Rochdale 0-3 Oldham Athletic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
16. "Daniel Johnson: Aston Villa midfielder joins Preston". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
17. "Colchester United 1-0 Preston North End". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
18. "Preston North End 4-0 Swindon Town". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
19. "DJ Excited At New Challenge". Preston North End. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
20. "Preston North End 1-1 Leeds United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
21. "Paul Huntington and Daniel Johnson: Preston North End pair sign new contracts". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
22. Stone, Simon. "Preston North End 3-2 Blackburn Rovers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
23. "Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Preston North End". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
24. "Preston North End 2-1 Burton Albion". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
25. "Daniel Johnson: Preston North End midfielder signs two-year extension". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
26. "Preston North End Season Review 2018/2019". Football Team News. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
27. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
28. Beardmore, Michael. "Bristol City 1-1 Preston North End". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
29. "Daniel Johnson: Preston North End midfielder agrees contract extension". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
30. "Preston North End Season Review 2020/2021". Football Team News. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
31. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
32. "Daniel Johnson & Josh Onomah: Preston North End midfielders to leave". BBC. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
33. "Daniel Johnson To Leave PNE". Preston North End. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
34. "Daniel Johnson: Stoke City sign Preston and Jamaica midfielder on two-year contract". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
35. "Johnson joins the Potters". Stoke City.
36. "Huddersfield Town 2-2 Stoke City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
37. "Pete Smith's Stoke City end of season player ratings for 35-man squad". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
38. Robert Bailey (1 May 2019). "Here Come The Brits! – Reggae Boyz Recall For McLeary With Cardiff's Reid Leading New English Crew". The Gleaner. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
39. "English boys Reid, Johnson join Reggae Boyz set-up". 31 August 2019.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
40. "Johnson no show". 5 September 2019.
41. "Saudi Arabia vs. Jamaica – 14 November 2020". Soccerway.
42. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
43. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
44. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
45. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
46. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
47. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
48. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
49. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
50. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
51. "Games played by Daniel Johnson in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
52. "Daniel Johnson". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
53. Middleton, Nathan (24 May 2015). "Preston North End 4–0 Swindon Town". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
54. "Daniel Johnson Wins NWFA Championship Player Of The Year". www.pnefc.net. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
55. Seddon, Dave (21 July 2020). "Daniel Johnson is Preston North End's player of the year". Lancashire Post. Retrieved 14 May 2022.

External links

• Daniel Johnson at Soccerbase