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Fabian Johnson is going club hunting this summer. Hoffenheim manager Markus Gisdol confirmed on Thursday that the American would leave when his contract expired in the summer.
"We've been fighting since the summer trying to convince Fabian to stay at the club," said Gisdol. "However, he's opted for a transfer [to another club]."
Johnson will get to go to the club of his choice and odds are that it will be another Bundesliga club. He hasn't had a great season for Hoffenheim, and the broken hand he has now hasn't helped, but he wouldn't have trouble landing at another club in the league. This is still the same player who was a top half left back in the league 12 months ago.
It will be interesting to see whether MLS makes a play at Johnson. He doesn't have the name recognition of Clint Dempsey or Michael Bradley and he's never actually lived in the U.S., but whether the league is willing to stretch to sign him -- and for what it's worth, I don't think they will or should -- will be an indicator of how they view different U.S. internationals.
In the meantime, Johnson will continue his recovery from his broken hand and then try to get back in form for the World Cup. Hoffenheim are out of the drop zone, but they are still in danger so Johnson will have plenty of important matches to play in before June, when he may join a rather long list of Americans hoping to parlay a good World Cup into a transfer to a bigger club.
