KATIE Price has denied claims that she is helping paedo footballer Adam Johnson to promote his public image following his release from prison for child sex offences.
The disgraced England star was released from HMP Moorland on Friday after serving half of his six-year prison term for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old fan.
The Telegraph reported that Johnson, 31, has sought out help from former glamour model Katie, 40, to revamp his public image.
But Katie’s rep insisted that the only connection is that she has known the family for years and is in touch with his mum and sister because they all own horses.
Johnson’s younger sister Faye struck up an unlikely friendship with Katie and they were pictured together on a night out in Magaluf in July 2016.
She has also spent time at Katie’s home and the pair were pictured partying again in Darlington in August 2017.
There is a suggestion that Johnson may consider reality TV.
The Sun previously reported that the shamed footie star hopes to resurrect his career within football by becoming an agent, we can reveal.
He’s given up on the hope of ever taking to the field again in England and doesn’t want to move abroad after being banged up away from his loved ones for three years.
Instead Johnson, who is 32 in the summer, plans to stay close to the game by transforming himself into a “Mr 10 per cent”.
A number of players from the North East including England and Everton star Jordan Pickford – a former Sunderland player – did not turn their backs on him when he was jailed.
A source said: “He realises that he’ll never play for a club in this country again due the nature of his convictions. If he had been sent down for a pretty much anything other than sex offences then he would have walked into a deal with another club.
“A Championship or League One side would have snapped him up but no team will take him now and he’s not keen to move to somewhere like China or India because he’s already missed three years of his daughter’s childhood and been away from his friends and family.
“So he’s looking at becoming an agent. He reckons once things have died down, he’ll be able to try and concentrate on that.
“He’s got the contacts and the knowledge of the game to do it and hopes former team-mates and friends will help him get started.
“He is desperate to do something. He’s got millions in the bank but he is worried that if he doesn’t do something rewarding, he’ll just end up in the boozer every day.”
The ex-Sunderland and Manchester City winger earned £60,000-a-week before he was sent down for offences committed against a fan, 15, and is estimated to be worth around £5 million.
But he’ll have to do his homework if he wants to become an agent and earn between three and 10 per cent of a player’s contract.
The first step for would-be agents is to register with the FA and pass an exam before they can be accepted by world governing body FIFA as a Licensed Players’ Agent.
The exam is based on FIFA rules and regulations. If successful, applicants then have to acquire professional liability insurance to cover the financial the risks involved in contract negotiations.
Applicants must then agree to a code of conduct before a licence is issued.
But before Johnson begins the process there is another register he must add his name to – the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Freed prisoners have 72 hours to appear in person at their local police station to hand over details of their address, phone numbers and even financial information like bank account numbers and credit cards.
