Joseph Nathan Johnson (born 21 February 2006) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Club career

Born in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

, Johnson began his career with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, joining at the age of six. After being released by Arsenal four years later, he spent time in the Focus Football Academy, before joining

in 2020. He signed his first professional contract with Luton Town in March 2023. After three years in the academy of ''the Hatters'', he made his professional debut on 24 April 2023, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Alfie Doughty Alfie Henry Harman Doughty (born 21 December 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Luton Town. Career Charlton Athletic Doughty joined the Charlton Athletic Academy at the age of eight and progressed through ...

in a 2–1 win against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. In doing so, he became the first academy graduate to make their debut for the club in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

in fifteen years. The following season, he made his first start for the club in a 1–0

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

loss to

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

on 26 September.

International career

Johnson was called up to the England under-18 squad in October 2023, featuring in three friendly matches in

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

, Spain. The following month, he was called up to the under-17 squad for the

2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be the 19th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It will be held in Peru fro ...

Career statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Joe 2006 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Barnet English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football fullbacks English Football League players Arsenal F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players