PROBLEMS PILE UP FOR A BOY WHO HAD IT ALL

JUST over a year ago, Adam Johnson sat in a room with journalists at the Stadium of Light and talked about England and the forthcoming World Cup. He wasn’t sharing his opinion as a former international, but as one who genuinely hoped his exile was about to come to a deserved end.

Johnson — scorer of seven goals in as many matches for Sunderland — believed he was worthy of a recall, 21 months on from a five-minute cameo in Norway’s Ullevaal Stadium during a Euro 2012 warm-up friendly.

At 26, was it plausible that Johnson had rediscovered the fearless form many suspected he had left behind on Teesside when he quit Middlesbrough — the club who had expertly nurtured him — for Manchester City in a £7million deal four years earlier?

For at the Etihad, amid the millionaires and the silverware, Johnson may have become a richer man, but he emerged a poorer player.

In February of last year, however, and on the eve of a Capital One Cup final against the club at which his career had stalled, Johnson spoke of playing his ‘ best ever football’ and wasn’t joking when he revealed summer holiday plans were on hold in the hope of adding to his 12 caps in Brazil.

Few argued. But Roy Hodgson was not aboard the ‘Johnson for England’ bandwagon.

The call never materialised and Sunderland — beaten by City at Wembley — finished the season fighting relegation, Johnson scoring just one goal in 16 matches as his form dipped. The eulogies which were written in the wake of his joyous January were, on reflection, a little premature.

In fact, Johnson’s form has never recovered. Five goals from 31 appearances this season may well make him Sunderland’s top scorer, but that masks what have been subdued and often sluggish performances, even if he remains their likeliest match-winner.

It is all a far cry from the skinny teenager who dared to dribble and made others dare to dream of the future which lay ahead.

Debuting at 17 for Middlesbrough, he was billed as ‘the next Stewart Downing’. In 2005, that was high praise.

He made a mockery of full backs and, indeed, those who had likened him to Downing, for it quickly became apparent that Johnson had the potential to be better than his Boro team-mate.

After six seasons at the Riverside, he was given the platform to prove as much. But at City, like so many young English talents, he regressed. There were concerns from within the club about his dedication and life away from football.

His reputation, though, remained intact, such were the fleeting nature of his sightings in sky blue. To the outside observer, he was done an injustice by Roberto Mancini.

And so Johnson was forgiven his uninspiring two-and-a-half years in Manchester when he signed for boyhood club Sunderland for £10million in the summer of 2012.

Last year, he reflected on his time at City. ‘There is a temptation (to sign for them), of course. The wages, you’re flattered when City are after you, but you’ll go there and be third choice,’ he said.

‘When I was there, I was always the one who would be dropped when the manager rotated the team. I wouldn’t sign for them now if I was a young English player.’

But perhaps Mancini was sound in his judgment. For although, during three seasons on Wearside, Johnson’s three goals in a trio of victories at North East rivals Newcastle have undoubtedly been the highlight, affording him terrace adulation, Sunderland, had expected far more when they laid down an eight-figure sum and wages of £50,000 per week.

Today, with Johnson having been charged with three counts of sexual activity with an underage girl and one of grooming, they are facing up to a relegation run-in, perhaps without the man in whom they have invested so heavily, depending on whether the club decide to suspend the player.

The future of both Sunderland and their star player hang in the balance.