Professional Footballers’ Association chairman Gordon Taylor has admitted that it would be very difficult for Adam Johnson to resume his playing career.
The ex-Sunderland winger was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday, learning of his sentence during a hearing at Bradford Crown Court.
The wideman was found guilty of sexual activity with a sexual girl, having previously pleaded guilty.
While Johnson has lodged an appeal to contest the conviction, the Taylor has admitted that the attacker’s chances of resuming the professional game were slim.
“I feel that prospect is, to say the least, very remote, if at all,” Taylor told BBC Five Live [as per Four Four Two].
“[His sentence] is not unexpected,” the chairman continued. “The judge had said it was a very serious issue and he would be away for quite some time,
“Six years is not unexpected. Our thoughts are very much with the victim in this matter.”
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The winger learned on Thursday that he had been stripped of his 12 England caps, while he was also sacked by Sunderland earlier in the year after admitting his guilt.
Johnson won the FA Cup and the Premier League with Manchester City, having moved to the north west from his boyhood club Middlesbrough.
He left City in 2012 to switch to Sunderland.