Aron Johannsson looks set to complete a transfer to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen after AZ accepted the German club’s $5.5 million bid. Johannsson will not be making the trip to Turkey for AZ’s Europa League second leg match on Thursday as he is currently in Germany undergoing a physical. The 24-year-old striker and Werder Bremen have reportedly already agreed to personal terms on a contract and the deal looks to go through before Bremen face Wurzburger Kickers in their DFB Pokal match on Saturday.
There was speculation surrounding a possible MLS move for Johannsson, but the most recent reports said that no team was willing to meet the monetary demands. This makes more sense now considering that we know AZ rejected a Werder Bremen bid of $4.5 million over the weekend only to accept a bid of an additional $1 million a couple days later.
The move will likely be a great fit for Johannsson. The German style of soccer fits with the Alabama-native’s creativity and ability to score goals. Like the Netherlands, the Bundesliga is more open and free-flowing than other top leagues such as England’s Premier League. In addition, Werder Bremen showed their high interest by moving quickly to sign Johannsson, especially considering they had just recently offloaded their top scorer from last season. He will likely get regular minutes right off the bat as the River Islanders only list three forwards on their roster right now, with an average age of 23. Those three strikers combined to score just two goals for Werder Bremen last year. (In fairness, summer signing Anthony Ujah, who will likely be Johannsson’s partner up front, scored 10 goals last season for Koln.)
Werder Bremen open their 2015/16 campaign on Saturday at Wurzburger Kickers in a cup tie before hosting Schalke 04 to open their Bundesliga season the following weekend. It will be nice to have an American scoring goals in Germany’s top league again.
Although it is on the defensive side of things where they struggle, the Columbus Crew have bolstered their attack by trading for Jack McInerney of the Montreal Impact. The Crew will send a second-round draft pick to Montreal in return for the 22-year-old forward. Currently in his sixth MLS season (and turning 23 tomorrow), McInerney has 36 goals and five assists to boast for over 8,100 minutes of league action. He has made 140 appearances between his two former clubs, Philadelphia and Montreal.
In addition, which Columbus will find helpful, the Chattanooga native loves playing in cup matches of any kind. He has 15 appearances across the US Open Cup, Canadian Championship, and CONCACAF Champions League and he has 10 goals to show for it. While he doesn’t register a ton of minutes (only 58.4 per appearance), he is a productive asset on the front line and putting him in the lineup with MLS leaders like Kei Kamara and Ethan Finlay will only aid that production. With those three leading the offensive attack, Columbus is obviously just trying to outscore anyone they play without much of a worry what goes into their own net.
As for some transfer rumors, it appears Emerson Hyndman is getting a lot of interest around Europe. Fulham have confirmed that they regularly receive phone calls about the 19-year-old midfielder, but nothing that has been attractive enough to sell or loan. They reportedly turned down multiple loan offers last season from clubs in Netherlands and Germany. Now, with his contract expiring after this season the calls have apparently started to become more frequent with interest coming from elsewhere in England, as well as Netherlands, Germany, and Spain.
Hyndman has been with the first team in the preseason and will likely start the season with them, but whether he is included in the 18-man squad for games will be the big tell as to what Fulham plan to do with him this season. Coming off a successful World Cup as captain of the US U-20 team, this is an important year for his development.
In one of the stranger rumors, there are reports that the Colorado Rapids plan to sell 21-year-old center back Shane O’Neill to a Europa League club in Cyprus. Apollon Limassol are supposedly keen on purchasing the young Irish-American defender who has seen very little time with Colorado this season. He has played just 286 minutes in four appearances in MLS this season, compared to registering nearly 4,200 minutes in 48 appearances over the last two seasons.
It is yet unknown if O’Neill has been pushing for a move across the pond, but if it happens it doesn’t sound like Cyprus will be the end location. The same media outlets reporting the move also say that Apollon plan to loan O’Neill out somewhere else in Europe. It is important for O’Neill to get regular playing time especially with Olympic qualifying coming up this fall and maybe a move to Europe is the answer for his development.
Also of note, the Chicago Fire and the New England Revolution have passed on signing Will Packwood. This was the second time he had been on trial for the Revs and Chicago makes the third MLS team to have publicly declined the opportunity of signing the former Birmingham City defender. A regular with the US U-23 squad over the last two years, it is curious to me whether the issues surround his technical ability, health, or monetary demands. I have to imagine it is one of the first two, considering he spent parts of the last three English seasons on loan and had spent time on the sideline with injuries. However, it is hard to believe that no MLS team is willing to splurge for the six-foot-four center back. Hello, Columbus?
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