Daniel Johnson

Preston North End Johnson joined Preston North End on 23 January 2015 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £50,000, on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Johnson started life off well at Preston scoring 8 goals in 18 appearances as Preston finished the 2014–15 season in third missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season. They progressed past Chesterfield in the League One play-offs semi-final before comfortably beating Swindon Town 4–0 in the final to gain promotion to the Championship. Johnson was a regular in his first season playing in the second-tier making 44 appearances, scoring nine goals as North End finished in 11th position. Johnson signed a new two-year contract extension with Preston in August 2016. He made the same number of appearances in 2016–17, scoring four goals including twice against Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers on 10 December 2016. Preston again finished the season in 11th place. Johnson played 36 times in 2017–18 as the Lilywhites missed out on a play-off spot on the final day of the season.

Johnson agreed a two-year contract extension with Preston in August 2018. In 2018–19 under the management of Alex Neil, Preston were unable to push for a top half finish ending the campaign in 14th. Johnson scored a career best of 12 goals in 2019–20, finishing top scorer as Preston ended up four points shy of a play-off spot in ninth. Johnson signed another contract extension in January 2021 keeping him at Deepdale until the summer of 2023. The 2020–21 season was a frustrating one for North End as they were unable to put a consistent run of results together and finished in 13th. They ended the 2021–22 season again in 13th place with Johnson making 45 appearances, scoring eight goals. Manager Ryan Lowe stated he was disappointed that Johnson had decided to leave for a new challenge— "We're disappointed but DJ wants a new challenge. I had a fantastic relationship with DJ and all the players did and I'm sure all the fans did too, but sometimes people want fresh challenges and that's what DJ's told us he wants to do, and we have to respect that decision. He'll go down as a legend at the football club and rightly so because he's a very talented footballer".

Stoke City Johnson joined Stoke City on 19 July 2023 signing on a two-year deal, reuniting with manager Alex Neil. He scored his first goal for Stoke in a 2–2 draw with Huddersfield Town on 20 September 2023. Neil was sacked in December 2023 and replaced by Steven Schumacher and after Johnson missed a penalty away at Blackburn Rovers in February 2024 he did not play again for the remainder of the 2023–24 season. Johnson terminated his contract with Stoke by mutual consent on 29 August 2024.

Fatih Karagümrük On 3 September 2024, Johnson joined TFF First League club Fatih Karagümrük.

International career In June 2019, Johnson received an invite to play for the Jamaica national side for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July 2019. On 31 August 2019, he was called up for Jamaica's CONCACAF Nations League matches against Antigua and Barbuda and Guyana. However, on 5 September, Johnson withdrew from the squad, with his agent citing a lack of a direct flight from London to Montego Bay. He debuted with the Jamaica national team in a 3–0 friendly loss to Saudi Arabia on 14 November 2020. He has now been released and is a free agent in 2026.

Career statistics Club

International

International goals

As of match played 2 July 2023. Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Johnson goal. Individual

North West Football Awards Championship Player of the Year: 2020 Preston North End Player of the Year: 2019–20