Former USMNT forward Aron Johannsson plans to leave Swedish giants Hammarby in January and is interested in a return to the Bundesliga or a move to MLS, he told ESPN.
"After the season now with Hammarby, it looks like I will be parting ways with Hammarby to go somewhere else," Johannsson said in an exclusive interview with Sebastian Salazar. "I'm not sure exactly now where I will go, but as things stand now I will leave in January."
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The Alabama-born, Iceland-raised striker moved to the Allsvenskan club on a free transfer in the summer of 2019, after an injury-ravaged four-year spell at Werder Bremen. A lengthy list of ailments -- adductor, hip and ankle injuries leading to the longest absences -- kept the just-turned-30-year-old out of 83 games with the Bundesliga side.
Johannsson has been injury free in his year and a half at Hammarby, and after a difficult campaign adjusting to the league in 2019, he's rebounded to register 12 goals in 22 league appearances -- fourth most in the league. It's the sort of form that led to former national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann recruiting the dual-national to join the U.S. in 2013, and puts him in position to potentially parlay that into a return to the Bundesliga or a move to MLS.
"I've felt since I left Germany ... like kind of a need to go there again to show to myself and to everybody else that I'm good enough to play there," said Johannsson, who called his string of injuries at Bremen "unlucky" and added that he was an impactful player capable of changing games when healthy and playing regularly.
He also repeatedly expressed his excitement over the possibility of embarking on a new adventure in MLS, and noted that he's held discussions with clubs in the North American league "a few times," but was never able to finalize a return to the country of his birth.
"I've always said it's a goal of mine to play in MLS," he said. "I'm very interested in MLS, and [playing there] is something I've dreamt about for a very long time."