Rovers have secured their second first-team signing of the window with the acquisition of former Leeds United, Norwich City and Derby County midfielder, Bradley Johnson, who has penned a 2-year deal at Ewood Park, following the termination of his Derby County contract.
The tenacious midfielder, has played over 200 games in the second tier, comes to Rovers with the hunger, desire and experience that will benefit the budding young squad. Despite playing in 28 games for Derby County last season, under former manager Frank Lampard, the Rams clearly saw Johnson, who originally signed for £6m in 2015, as surplus to requirements, which has allowed the Hackney-born midfielder to move up north, for no fee.
Whilst having multiple promotions on his CV, one with Leeds United in 2010 from League One, and another with Norwich City in 2015, into the Premier League, Johnson will be hoping to make it a hattrick of promotions with Rovers during his spell at Ewood Park. Alongside his positional play and ability to win back possession, the midfielder has also shown his capabilities with the ball at his feet from in and around the penalty area, having scored against Rovers numerous times with the likes of Norwich City, and with over 60 goals to his name already, the 32-year old will be hoping to grab a few more in the Blue and White of Rovers.
Although Johnson joins Rovers at 32-years of age, the midfielder has shown over the past few years, that he is still capable of operating in the Championship, given the number of games he has racked up since entering the league in 2010. His Premier League experience will also hold vital for the young midfielders within Rovers’ ranks, which is something that the side has been vitally lacking, with only fellow new signing Stewart Downing, former Norwich teammate Elliott Bennett and Danny Graham having experienced the top division within Rovers’ current crop.
After being announced on Friday morning, Johnson wasted no time in partaking in his media duties, before heading off to training with the players, who had recently returned from their warm weather training camp in Austria ahead of their first friendly away at Barrow on Saturday;
“I’m delighted to be here. I spoke to a lot of people prior to the move, and they had nothing but positives to say about this club. I know a lot of the players who are already here, friends who I’ve played with and against down the years, and I’m looking forward to getting involved with them and kicking on for Blackburn Rovers.
“I spoke to Elliott Bennett, who has been a friend of mine for a very long time, dating back from when we were at Norwich together. He’s been here a while and I spoke to him as soon as he found out I was coming. Danny Graham was someone I also spoke to, and he was saying that he hoped I’d come, and I’ve managed to grab a quick chat with a few of the lads before they went out to training today. The conversations I had when agreeing the deal were good as they were straight to the point. Rovers made it clear how much they wanted me, which was a nice feeling and played a massive factor in me making my decision. This is a club on the up, so ultimately the decision to sign here was very straightforward.
“Elliott and I go back around eight or nine years, as we signed together at Norwich and played in the Premier League together. It’s quite surreal that we’re back in the same side, but hopefully we can push this club back into the Premier League, where it belongs. My aim is to get back into the Premier League. I tried to do that at Derby County, but we unfortunately failed on several occasions, but now, I want to achieve that ambition with Blackburn Rovers.
“This is a young talented team, who I’ve played and scored against numerous times, but hopefully I can use my experience of both, the Premier League and the Championship wisely in order to help the younger lads in the team try and get to the next level in their career, as well as help move the club into a position to challenge the top end of the table. I remember the game at Ewood Park in April just gone, where we lost to this Blackburn side and nearly slipped out of the playoffs. This is a tough league, but the Rovers players on the night showed that they were capable of beating the teams at the top, which is something I that excites me, and I hope we can do more of, this upcoming season.”
