Solihull Moors have added two players with long careers in the Football League. Marvin Johnson and Elias Kachunga have both joined the National League club as free agents.
For Johnson it is a return to where he started. Born in Birmingham, he began his senior career at Solihull, the club closest to his home. He has rejoined on a short-term deal that runs until mid-January.
Johnson, who turned 35 in December, never played academy football. He made his first-team debut for Solihull in the Conference North and played five league games for them. While at Damson Park he worked as a shop assistant and took his coaching badges.
After leaving Solihull in 2010 he joined Romulus. He was their top scorer in 2011/12, and a move to Kidderminster Harriers followed in February 2012. He won an England C cap later that year.
From there his career took off. He moved to Motherwell in 2015 and scored in the second leg of the play-off win over Rangers that kept them in the Scottish Premiership. Oxford United then signed him for a reported club-record fee of around £650,000. A year later Middlesbrough paid a fee in the region of £2.5 million to take him to the Championship.
He spent 2018/19 on loan at Sheffield United, playing his part as they won promotion to the Premier League.
His most successful spell came at Sheffield Wednesday. He signed in 2021 and was part of the side promoted from League One through the play-offs in 2023. In the “Miracle of Hillsborough” semi-final comeback against Peterborough, he won the penalty that started the four-goal turnaround.
Across four seasons he made 169 appearances, scoring 10 goals and providing 30 assists. Only Barry Bannan provided more assists for the club in that period.
After leaving Wednesday he had a short spell at Port Vale under his former manager Darren Moore, but injuries limited him to seven appearances. He left in January when his contract ended. Over the summer he trained with the PFA’s free-agent squad and had a trial at Lincoln City.
Kachunga, 34, was born in Haan, Germany. He played for Germany at youth level before representing DR Congo at senior level.
He came through at Borussia Mönchengladbach and played in Germany for Paderborn and Ingolstadt. In 2016 he joined Huddersfield Town on loan. He scored 12 goals in 42 league games during their promotion season to the Premier League, and the club then made the move permanent for around £1.1 million.
He later spent a season at Sheffield Wednesday in 2020/21, making 29 appearances, followed by two years at Bolton Wanderers. He then had three seasons at Cambridge United, where he scored 12 league goals in 96 appearances. His Cambridge contract ended in the summer.
Solihull have had a difficult start to the season. Their most recent game was a 2-0 home defeat to FC Halifax Town on 3 October.
Manager Chris Millington said Johnson would bring experience, quality on the left and the versatility to play in different positions. He said Kachunga had played at a high level and could play anywhere across the front line.
The pair join two other former Wednesday players at Solihull. Chey Dunkley arrived on loan from Chesterfield last week, and Rio Shipston is already at the club. Johnson and Dunkley go back a long way, having played together at Kidderminster, Oxford and Hillsborough.
Solihull’s next game is away at Worthing on Saturday.
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