League clubs ‘will not go near Johnson’

ADAM JOHNSON will find that English football has turned its back on him when he is released from prison. Johnson, 31, could be freed from HMP Moorland as early as today after serving half of his six-year sentence for grooming and sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.

Sportsmail has contacted all League One and Two clubs within a daily commute of Johnson’s home in County Durham and not one of them has said they would consider speaking to him. One chief executive said he could not envisage any League club touching the player, who was sacked by Sunderland in March 2016, given the backlash it would cause. We have also discovered that Johnson will be denied the chance of a payday in China because of strict visa requirements to work in the country. His hopes of playing elsewhere abroad are also hampered because he is being released on license, meaning Johnson will need to have regular face-to-face contact with the probation service.