Johnson targets England place

The Manchester City winger featured prominently in the qualifiers under then England manager Fabio Capello but the Italian's replacement, Roy Hodgson, left Johnson on standby for the campaign in Poland and Ukraine, where England reached the quarter-finals.

Johnson told www.mcfc.co.uk: "I'll be quite honest and say I really think I should have been selected because I played five times in the qualifiers and scored two goals so I thought I'd proved my worth.

"When I played for City last season I scored a few goals and made a few as well so it took me a while to accept not being able to represent my country at a major championship, because the same thing happened at the World Cup two years ago.

"To be fair, Roy Hodgson has been brilliant with me and phoned me to say that he still wanted me to come to Norway and train before the Euros began. As far as I'm concerned, I start my bid for the 2014 World Cup from now."

Johnson paid for a poor end to the season domestically. He did not feature at all in City's last three games as it clinched the Premier League title for the first time and his last domestic start came against Bolton Wanderers on 3 March.

The 24-year-old is determined to force his way back into boss Roberto Mancini's plans for the forthcoming season, and he said: "It was pretty hard watching from the sidelines because obviously you want to be out there helping the lads.

"It's tough but you have to keep plugging away and just give your all. We won the title, which was the main thing, but obviously you want to feel you've played your part, too.

"Things can change pretty quickly in football and this is a new season and we all start with a clean slate once again. What I need to do is respond, try even harder and react positively."