Disgraced star won’t play in top flight again
Agent: No Premier club will sign Johnson now
ADAM Johnson won’t play in the Premier League again, a leading football agent has said a year ahead of his release from prison.
The now 30-year-old was jailed in March 2016 for five years after being convicted of child sex offences, meaning he could be released on licence in a year.
The one-time £60,000-a-week England player built a career playing topflight football at clubs including Sunderland and Manchester City before his spectacular fall from grace.
After admitting grooming a besotted teenage fan, who he was convicted of engaging in sexual activity with in March last year, the former star player was forced to sign the sex offender’s register.
He was cleared of one charge relating to another sexual act.
A top football agent with extensive experience of dealing with Premier League players said that Johnson had ‘no chance’ of playing in the top flight.
The agent, who wishes to remain anonymous said: “No club in the Premier League will touch him now.
“The likelihood is he will never play top-level football again, not in the UK anyway. Maybe a lower level championship club or league one might, but I doubt it.
“Sponsors are very wary. That’s why no big name clubs who rely on sponsorship will even look at him now.”
Former Sheffield United player Ched Evans found it impossible to get signed when he was released from prison after being convicted of rape after sponsors threatened to pull out.
The Welsh striker was acquitted of rape and then signed by League Two team Chesterfield.
The agent added: “Even lower league clubs will have to think of their female fans, and their reputations, a familyfriendly club can’t take him on realistically.”
Johnson grew up in a £50,000 back-toback terrace in Easington and his family supported him and nurtured his foot- balling talent from a very young age.
He was seen as a local hero when he signed to play for Sunderland AFC and moved into a £1.8m mansion in the wealthy enclave of Castle Eden where he also bought homes for his sister and parents.
Johnson’s only hope of earning big money again would be to move abroad, but that won’t be as simple as he may hope.
The football agent said that Australia and America are out of the question because he can’t move their with a conviction, and that teams in the Chinese Super League won’t look at him.
“Thailand or Singapore would be his best bet,” he said. “He should go there, keep his head down and earn decent money if he can. Playing for any time in the UK isn’t going to be good for him. At any away game he is going to get grief – it won’t be good for the team.”
The difficulty is that if Johnson is released on licence for the remainder of his sentence he won’t be able to move abroad for two and a half years, meaning he will be 33 by then and his playing standard will have slipped.
Clare Phillipson, from Wearside Women in Need, has said she fears Johnson could be given a warmer welcome back to football than she would hope.
The charity boss said: “We believe if someone has served their prison sentence and is genuinely remorseful they should be able to be rehabilitated and get on with their lives.
“I think there is a difference between being rehabilitated and being treated as a hero, which is what happens to footballers, they are role models.
“Are we really going to be expected to cheer him on?
“Unfortunately football has a long history of treating men who mistreat women as heroes, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays again.”
Any club which signs him would need to ensure Johnson didn’t have unsupervised contact with young fans, under the conditions of the sex offenders’ register.
“There’ll be no family fun days or autograph signing for him,” Ms Phillipson added. Adam Johnson has “no chance” of playing in the Premier League again, says top agent