Stoke City supporters may have judged one player too soon | OneFootball

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Daniel Johnson joined Stoke City in the summer on a free transfer after his contract was not renewed at Preston North End, and after his debut, supporters were questioning his signing.

The midfielder had been at Preston for eight years, making a staggering 336 appearances for the club, with 141 of them under Alex Neil, so the Scot knew exactly what he was getting when he brought him to Stoke in the summer.

He was one of the more experienced players Neil signed amid a host of exciting young talent from Europe and, at 31, Johnson was viewed as someone who could show those players the ropes.

After a shaky start, Neil has been vindicated as Johnson has quickly turned into a key player for The Potters this season as they attempt to solve their consistency issues.

How good has Daniel Johnson been for Stoke City?

A trait of Johnson's is that he is a very versatile player, having played on the left, right, in the middle and even further forward at times in his career.

However, sometimes, for players, that can be a flaw, as they are made to just plug gaps, which reduces the impact they can have on the pitch - we've seen that with Johnson this season, as Neil attempted to use him as a left wing-back against Hull City in a 3-1 loss.

Neil, though, has seemingly found his best role in the starting line-up, which is as an attacking midfielder.

Stoke have shown inconsistent form throughout the season but when Johnson was moved further forward, against Sunderland, they grabbed a 2-1 win before they went on a five-game unbeaten run.

They were beaten recently by Blackburn Rovers, but the fact Stoke's best form of the campaign so far came with Johnson as an attacking midfielder emphasises how he is best there.

In 17 league games so far, he has three goal contributions, but one of his best assets being higher up the pitch is his ball recoveries as he makes 4.2 per game, allowing Stoke to press high up the pitch.

Can Johnson lead Stoke to a potential play-off push?

Stoke supporters would have been quietly optimistic about potentially making a challenge for the top six due to their five-game unbeaten run going into the first round of fixtures after the international break.

That would have changed though due to a very poor result as they lost 3-0 to Blackburn.

Johnson knows that he has a lot of high-potential players around him, but he hasn't been helped by the striker issue Neil has as he has played behind Dwight Gayle.

Gayle is in his second season at Stoke now and has still only scored three goals for the club. Wesley is still yet to find the back of the net since joining in the summer, despite a good impact against Leeds United in another positive win.

If Neil can get another good run of form going until January, and he solves the goalscoring issue, then there is a chance. Realistically, though, even with the experienced head of Johnson, the squad still seems too fresh to go for promotion.

12 months on, though, that could be very different, with Johnson the type of underrated signing that can be the glue within a successful young squad. If he keeps impressing, belief in that will only grow.