NEW loan signing Justin Johnson jumped at the opportunity to work with Jackie McNamara again due to the York City manager’s reputation for giving youth a chance.

Johnson was handed his Scottish Premier League debut against Inverness at the age of 18 just two days after being signed by McNamara when he was in charge at Dundee United.

Dutch winger Johnson, now 20, only played four more games for the Tangarines following McNamara’s departure, but is relishing a fresh start at pro level, having been given his second start in senior football during last weekend’s 4-0 City win over Solihull.

McNamara nurtured the talents of Andrew Robertson and Ryan Gauld at Dundee, before the pair moved on to Hull City and Sporting Lisbon respectively.

He also flooded his Bootham Crescent squad with on-loan teenagers last term and Johnson enthused: “I always enjoyed working with him. He believes in me and, hopefully, I can repay him.

“He gives me the confidence and belief to play and tells me to go and express myself. He also doesn’t care how old you are. If you’re good enough, you’ll play.”

Johnson made his Dundee United debut following a double substitution that also involved City winger Aidan Connolly and the former has insisted it is no shock to him how impressive the latter, only 21 himself, has been since his North Yorkshire switch.

A haul of three goals and six assists from his first seven Minstermen outings has alerted the likes of Championship Reading to Connolly’s talents and Johnson now wants to emulate his ex-Tannadice team-mate.

He said: “Aidan’s such a good player. It’s not surprising for me how well he’s done, because I know what he can do.

“Hopefully, I can do something similar at the club, whilst assisting in goals and working hard for the team.”

Having been on Manchester United’s books as a schoolboy and had a spell at FC United of Manchester before McNamara was alerted to his potential during performances for Manchester College, Johnson is keen to showcase his ability south of the border again, adding: “The move came as a bit of a surprise.

“It was on deadline day and I was told I was going, but then it was off, before it was back on again, so I was happy and I’d love to have a career in England. The Scottish game is more physical, but here it’s more tactical and I like that.”

City’s thumping victory at the weekend also impressed the new face. “It was a good result and we deserved it, because the boys did very well,” Johnson reasoned.

Having made way for Daniel Nti at half-time in the game, Johnson was given a full run-out against Hartlepool reserves this week and set up the visitors’ goal for Flynn McNaughton in a 2-1 defeat.

At Dundee United this season, he had only been afforded 36 minutes on the pitch in two substitute outings and, analysing his debut, Johnson pointed out: “I could have done better, but it was my first game in ages and, hopefully, I will be better in the next match.

“I need to get more game time and get match fit. I didn’t get that enough at Dundee United and I’m hoping for more minutes here.”

With a schoolboy pedigree that included a spell with Sparta Rotterdam before his stint with the Red Devils, Johnson reckons that those formative years have given him the grounding to succeed in his career.

“I was ten when I left Holland,” he explained. “Over there the game is more pass, pass, pass and it was good to get that background.

“I was also at Manchester United for a season and a half, which helped my development too.”