Glen's dramatic rise to a £6m man

When you are 18 and someone suddenly pays £6million for you, it must be almost impossible to keep your feet on the ground.

Glen Johnson would not have been the first young player, swiftly elevated to stardom, to have embraced his new-found wealth, bought an apartment in a fashionable part of London and played the fame bit to the full.

Johnson does admit to moving house following his £6m transfer from West Ham to Chelsea, but we're hardly talking cutting-edge bachelor-pad stuff here.

"I'm at Dartford at the moment and I'm buying another place not far away with my mum," said the young man from south of the river.

Mrs Johnson will no doubt ensure that young Glen is not out too late in the months to come as he settles into life at Stamford Bridge.

Tomorrow he gets his first chance to see where he stands in the new order of things when he bids to play in Chelsea's first competitive game this season - their Champions League qualifier in Zilina, Slovakia.

This time last year Johnson was looking forward to playing in West Ham's youth team and maybe a few games in the reserves.

He then spent two months on loan at Millwall before the night last

January when West Ham manager Glenn Roeder, almost in desperation and with his team deep into a relegation fight, turned to Johnson.

It was a turning point for West Ham, who won their first home Premiership match that night, and a big step for the right-back, who came in and stayed in.

Relegation, however, meant a £20m shortfall for the Hammers and the need to sell a number of their playing assets.

A few names were mentioned, but not Johnson's. It was a complete surprise, then, when

Chelsea, with Roman Abramovich's money to burn, decided their first signing was not a European star but this quiet teenager with a big future.

Quiet, yes, but certainly not lacking in ambition. When asked whether he would be disappointed if Chelsea's regular right-back, Mario Melchiot, was preferred to him in Chelsea's opening Premiership encounter at Liverpool, there was absolutely no hesitation.

"Yes, I would be disappointed," he replied emphatically.

"I would have to accept it if I'm on the substitutes' bench, but I want to play regularly."

Johnson is an England Under-21 player but shrewd judges within the game are predicting he will figure in Sven-Goran Eriksson's senior squad before too long.

Johnson's personal ambition is to tie down a regular first-team place and the youngster is no less bullish when asked about realistic aims for the team this coming season.

"It has to be the title," he said. "No one goes out to finish second, do they?"

Johnson had mixed feelings about leaving West Ham.

"I was sad to be leaving the club I had been with all my football life, but glad to be joining a club as big as Chelsea," he said.

"It has all happened so quickly that, I have to be honest, it hasn't properly sunk in yet."