Luton defender faces a 'dark couple of months' after hamstring surgery
Johnson faces a lengthy recovery period
Luton defender Joe Johnson knows he will face a ‘dark couple of months’ after undergoing surgery on a hamstring injury picked up during the 2-0 pre-season victory at Southend United recently.
The 19-year-old was looking to stake a claim for a place in the Town first team squad this season, as having made his debut when the club were a Championship side back in April 2023, he featured twice in the Premier League and then made eight outings last term, including five starts as Luton were unable to survive relegation back to League One.
With Town in the third tier, and Johnson, capped by England at U17 to U19 level, recently flying out with the Young Lions to the UEFA EURO Championships in Romania, might have thought he would have more of an opportunity in the first team this term, especially with both Alfie Doughty and Amari’i Bell leaving recently.
However, that now won’t be the case, as Luton’s academy graduate wrote on social media: “Absolutely gutted to have picked up an injury that has put me out of action for the rest of the year. However, surgery done and on the road to recovery. There’s no denying it will be a dark couple of months but this battle will make me stronger and I will come back a better man.”
Boss Matt Bloomfield had shown his trust in Johnson since the players returned to training, giving the teenager a number of run-outs during pre-season, including against both Gillingham and Southend recently, the Hatters running out 2-0 winners on both occasions.
Sadly that won’t be the case now, as Town’s chief added: “JJ has had an operation on his hamstring, so he's going to be out for a few months which is really unfortunate for Joe, as I actually thought that against Gillingham and Southend were as good as I've seen him, and as probably as robust and defensive as I’ve seen him, so I was really pleased with those two games. I really feel for Joe, he's going to be out for three or four months I believe, so that’s unfortunate for him, that's going to be a long recovery time.”