Ryan Johnson

Ryan Anthony Johnson (born 2 October 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for club AFC Wimbledon.

He has also represented Northern Ireland at under-21 level.

Johnson began his career in the youth academy at West Bromwich Albion before joining Stevenage of League One in 2013.

He was offered a scholarship by West Bromwich in the summer of 2013, but opted to leave and join Stevenage, where he felt he had a better chance of playing first-team football.

Johnson trained regularly with the first-team alongside starting a two-year scholarship.

He made his first-team debut in May 2014 and in doing so became the club's youngest player in the English Football League.

Johnson had two loan spells in non-League at Boreham Wood, as well as spending time on loan at St Albans City, Nuneaton Town and Kidderminster Harriers.

Johnson made his professional debut on the final day of the 2013–14 season, on 3 May 2014, in a 2–0 away defeat to Brentford.

He played a peripheral role during the 2014–15 season, making all four of his appearances for Stevenage in the opening two months of the season.

This included receiving a red card for two bookable offences within the space of six minutes in a 2–1 away defeat to Bury on 16 September 2014.

A month later, on 24 October 2014, Johnson joined the Conference South club Boreham Wood on a one-month loan deal in order to "gain valuable first-team experience".

He made one appearance during the brief spell, as a 90th-minute substitute in Boreham Wood's 2–1 win over Maidenhead United on 10 November 2014.

He returned to Stevenage later that month and went on to appear for the club's development squad for the remainder of the season.

The 2015–16 season followed a similar course with Johnson appearing regularly in the match-day squad, but often as an unused substitute, as he made seven appearances for the club during the season.

Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Johnson was loaned to the National League South club St Albans City with teammate Dipo Akinyemi until January 2017.

The loan move came about after Johnson had spoken to the Stevenage manager Darren Sarll and informed him he wanted game-time.

He made his debut on the opening day of the new season, playing the whole match as St Albans secured a 2–0 home win over Concord Rangers at Clarence Park.

Johnson scored his first competitive goal in St Albans' 2–1 victory over Chelmsford City on 16 August 2016, scoring with a header from a corner kick.

He suffered a knee injury while on international duty with the Northern Ireland under-21 team in September 2016 and was ruled out of action for two months, returning to the St Albans first-team at the start of December 2016.

Johnson was recalled by Stevenage at the end of the month, a month earlier than the initial agreement.

He made 12 appearances during the spell, scoring twice.

Despite returning to Stevenage earlier than planned, Johnson did not play for the first-team during the second half of the season.

In April 2017, he spent a week on trial at the Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, playing 77 minutes in the development team's 4–1 defeat to Everton under-23s.

No move materialised, and at the end of the month he went on a week-long trial at Norwich City, playing the whole match in a 0–0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion under-23s.

Despite reported interest from Premier League and Championship clubs, Johnson remained at Stevenage and in July 2017, before the 2017–18 season, he rejoined Boreham Wood on a season-long loan agreement.

After two starting appearances in Boreham Wood's opening three games, Johnson did not appear again and the loan deal was cut short in December 2017.

In doing so, he became Stevenage's youngest debutant in the Football League at the age of 17 years and 215 days, a record that was broken by Liam Smyth (17 years and 37 days) in October 2018.

Johnson was loaned once again on 5 January 2018, this time joining the National League North club Nuneaton Town for the remainder of the season.

The move meant he was going to be playing under the manager Dino Maamria, who had previously coached him during his early years at Stevenage.

Johnson made his Nuneaton debut in a 2–0 loss to Brackley Town on 6 January 2018.

He was a mainstay in the centre of defence during his time at Nuneaton, making 19 appearances.

Johnson was loaned out for a fifth time in June 2018, joining National League North club Kidderminster Harriers on a six-month loan agreement.

He made his Kidderminster debut on the opening day of the 2018–19 season, playing the whole match in a 3–3 draw away at Alfreton Town.

He signed for Kidderminster on a permanent basis in January 2019 and spent a year-and-a-half playing regularly in the National League North.

After playing one match for Rushall Olympic, Johnson signed for Hartlepool United in September 2020.

He helped the club earn promotion back into the Football League during the 2020–21 season.

Johnson signed for League Two club Port Vale in June 2021, before joining Stockport County in January 2022 for an undisclosed fee.

Stockport won promotion as champions of the National League at the end of the 2021–22 season.

He signed for AFC Wimbledon in June 2023.

Johnson started his career in the youth academy at West Bromwich Albion, where he spent seven years as a schoolboy.