Promotion joy turns to agony for £100k Pompey signing
Former Pompey defender Callum Johnson has been released after winning promotion to League One.
The right-back, whom the Blues purchased from Accrington for £100,000 in 2020, has not been offered a new contract by Mansfield Town.
He is one of four players being let go by Stags boss Nigel Clough, whose side finished third behind champions Stockport and runners-up Wrexham in League Two.
Johnson featured 17 times for Mansfield in the league in 2023/24 but Clough said his injury problems were a key factor in letting him go.
This is the second time the Middlesbrough-born defender has suffered this fate in three years. Johnson was released by the Blues in 2022, when Danny Cowley was in charge, and allowed to join Ross County on a free transfer.
The then Pompey boss preferred Kieron Freeman and Millwall loanee Mahlon Romeo over the former Accy defender, who was sent out on loan to Fleetwood to serve out the remainder of his twoyear deal.
Johnson, who featured 47 times for the Blues during the 2020-21 season, later told The News: ‘I’m not really sure why Danny didn’t fancy me.
‘Managers obviously have opinions, that’s what makes football special, but I honestly don’t know the answer to that. You can take it if someone sits you down, talks to you and tells you “Look, I want someone with this, that and the other – but you haven’t got that”. That’s fine.
‘But sometimes you don’t get that.’