Young defender Ben Johnson has signed his first professional contract with the club after turning 18 this week.  The highly-rated right back put pen to paper on a deal until 2020.

Johnson made his breakthrough this season to the U23 squad and has maintained his place there.

The youngster also got his first taste of senior team action at the end of last year when he travelled and was named on the substitutes’ bench for the fixture at Manchester City in December.

Ben stated that he was delighted to sign his first deal for the club and thanked Mark Phillips and Steve Potts for moving him to the right back position.

Johnson has been with the club for over 10 years and was originally an attacking midfielder/winger and only made the switch to right back 12 months ago.

The youngster has already trained with the first team and the switch to the right back position has firmly put him in David Moyes’ eyes for the future.