Preston North End legend now looks in Stoke City limbo as Under-21s appearance made

Preston North End said goodbye to a club legend in Daniel Johnson last summer - but it hasn't been a plain sailing first season at Stoke City.

In early December, the Potters parted ways with ex-PNE manager Alex Neil. Reuniting with the Scot was a big factor in Johnson's move to the club, as well as the chance to take on a new challenge after eight years at Deepdale.

Coincidentally, Stoke replaced Neil with Ryan Lowe's former assistant, Steven Schumacher. The Plymouth Argyle boss was prised away from Home Park on December 19 and results have been hard to come by. The Potters currently sit 22nd in the Championship table.

As for Johnson, he started the first match of the Schumacher era - a goalless draw at home to Millwall. But since then the Jamaica international has made one league start, been substituted on four times, an unused sub on three occasions and not in the squad three times. Johnson also played 74 minutes of the EFL Cup tie with Brighton, in January.

There was a low moment for the 31-year-old earlier this month, as he saw his penalty kick saved in the away defeat to Blackburn Rovers. At the time, Stoke were 3-1 down in the game. Johnson made way 11 minutes after that and hasn't made the squad since then.

Johnson featured for Stoke's Under-21s last week, in a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa. Senior striker, Wesley, also played - as well as summer recruit Nikola Jojić and experienced defender Ciaran Clark. Earlier this month, Andre Vidigal and Tyrese Campbell played for the 21s too. Schumacher, though, does not view that game time as a negative thing.

"It’s another game of football and playing games is what you want to do as a professional footballer," said Schumacher. "There is not as much pressure on the three points for the under-21s as such, but it’s still game time. You’re still playing the same way as the first team are playing and the information is the same. I sat with Andre Vidigal on Tuesday and went through all the clips from Monday’s game because he played in it so I could try to help him.

"That’s the importance of playing 21s. It’s really beneficial that we’re in an under-21s league. That wasn’t the case at Argyle... we didn’t have enough players. We didn’t have that opportunity to give people game time. If senior players are involved, it’s definitely not a punishment. It’s getting ready to be in the first team; when you’re called upon, you need to ready to go.”