Roger And In!
Wolves are delighted to confirm the arrival of long-time target Roger Johnson, who has arrived for an undisclosed fee from Midlands rivals Birmingham.
The much-admired defender has put pen to paper on a four year contract after coming through a medical on Monday to become Wolves' third permanent signing of the summer after Jamie O'Hara and Dorus De Vries.
Johnson returned to the Compton training ground this morning to formally sign his contract, and is set to face the media before getting stuck into his first full training session.
Boss Mick McCarthy, set to join 28-year-old Johnson at this morning's press conference, is a long-term admirer of the former Wycombe and Cardiff defender and is delighted to have landed one of his major targets of the summer.
"We tried to sign Roger two years ago when he moved from Cardiff to Birmingham and have been tracking him ever since," said CEO Jez Moxey.
"We are pleased to have signed what we believe to be an excellent player who represents good value for money for us.
"He fits the bill perfectly - a British centre back in his prime, one with Barclays Premier League and cup winning experience, a vocal, determined, leader type who has played consistently well for a long time.
"We stressed that we would not rush to do deals this summer and would have to be patient in the pursuit of our targets, which has proved to be beneficial for us.
"However, Roger has still joined early enough to give him plenty of time to get settled with his new team-mates and play in the pre-season games programme before the season starts in August.
"We are delighted with the way it has worked out."
Johnson, born in Ashford, started his career with Wycombe Wanderers and was captain of the side, making 183 appearances for the Chairboys and scoring 21 goals.
He moved to Cardiff in 2006, but it was in the 2007/08 campaign when he really burst to the fore, winning the club's Player of the Year award as he played in all six of the club's FA Cup fixtures as they ended up losing in the final to Portsmouth.
Johnson then played a third season with Cardiff, again landing of the Player of the Year award as well as being named in the Championship team of the year.
In total he chalked up 136 appearances in South Wales, again being amongst the goals with 14, before landing a move to the Barclays Premier League and Birmingham in June, 2009.
In two seasons at St Andrew's, Johnson played in every single Barclays Premier League fixture, including playing a key role as Blues went 12 games unbeaten, a club record for the top flight.
In total he made 88 appearances for Birmingham, scoring three goals, and showing the sort of form which linked him with a possible England call-up also picked up a Carling Cup winners medal after a memorable win at Wembley against Arsenal.
Jez meanwhile has confirmed that Johnson was a target right from the end of last season, with Wolves believing they have landed a very good deal for his services.
"As soon as Birmingham were relegated we started negotiations and these went on for a long time but it got to a stage where we looked like we might not be able to sign him.
"At that point we started talking to Reading about Matt Mills.
"But it soon became apparent to us that Matt Mills was unlikely to represent the value for money player we wanted.
"There was also a lot of misinformation in the press about the money we were supposedly offering - we only made one formal bid and the figures quoted were exaggerated.
"Likewise, while we are sticking to our policy that all transfer fees agreed remain undisclosed, the reports concerning the deal with Birmingham are also inaccurate."
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