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Johnson returns to MLS, club to be determined Friday

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photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Eddie Johnson is headed back to MLS. For real, this time.

After spending three-and-a-half years in Europe and six months searching for a another club abroad, Johnson agreed to a contract with MLS on Thursday. The 27-year-old forward will go into the league allocation process, and his new team will be determined on Friday.

The expansion Montreal Impact currently have the top spot in the allocation process, followed by the Vancouver Whitecaps, New England Revolution, Toronto FC and Chivas USA.

Johnson's decision to return to MLS comes six months after he turned down an initial offer from the league during the final steps of negotiations.

Johnson, who has not played in an official game since April 23, 2011, has been searching for a club ever since his contract with Fulham expired last summer. He had a deal in place with Puebla this past winter, but that crumbled before him after the Mexican club deemed him not fit enough.

During his stay in Europe, Johnson failed to score for Fulham and was loaned out several times. He spent time with Championship clubs Cardiff City and Preston North End as well as Greek outfit Aris Salonika. Johnson scored twice for Cardiff City and five times for Aris, but he never found the back of the net for Preston North End.

Johnson now returns to where it all began for him. The former U.S. men's national team striker spent the first six seasons of his career in MLS, playing for FC Dallas and the then-Kansas City Wizards. He scored 41 goals in 127 MLS games before signing with Fulham in January 2008.

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What do you think of Johnson returning to MLS? Hoping your team picks him up? How do you look back on his time in Europe? How many goals do you see him scoring this season?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. He came out of the box and destroyed CONCACUPCAKE world cup qualifiers when he first got onto the USMT scene. Maybe the knock on him is that because of all the physical gifts it doesn’t look like he is trying hard. The problem is that he didn’t quite have the stones to make it on the bigger stage. If it wasn’t determination or mental toughness than it is the lack of desire. It all adds to the same result a tremendous waste of talent. Imagine if he had Dempsy’s heart…or how much greater Dempsy would be with EJ’s physical abilities.

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  2. Puebla GM signed him… the coach did not want him…

    You guys act like he sucked so bad… He played a decent run of games just last April at Preston North End… He was stuck out on the wing which is not his position but still got many starts and actually did score a goal but the called it an own goal (much like Dempseys last weekened)…

    EJ was just not good enough for the big time… When he played at his level (Aris in the Greek Super League) he did well enough… He will have an impact (no montreal pun intended) on some MLS team.

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  3. Nope, just a guy who actually pays attention to all the yanks abroad and does not buy into the…well my friend says he sucks, so he must suck… He was just not as tactically up to speed as compared to all the other players in Europe… When it was about running and moving and trying to score goals… he did well… in MLS and the Greek Super League… that is just his level…

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  4. “You all can say EJ is lazy but that is far from the truth… He works very hard and is a very physically fit guy”

    Then why did Puebla pass on him and why has he not done better anywhere other than the MLS?

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  5. I laugh how people take rumors as fact.. Puebla coach had no desire to sign him as the GM is the one that did the deal and then the manager under cut it all by saying he was not fit… that is really what happened…. You all can say EJ is lazy but that is far from the truth… He works very hard and is a very physically fit guy. He does not drink, he does play video games. The guy is professional and his lack of overall talent is what kept him from making it in Europe. There was never a manager in Europe who said he did not work hard in training…

    He will come back to the MLS and be almost has serviceable as he was when he left… Montreal will pick him up and he will score like 10-12 goals this season. Just watch…

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  6. As a Fulham fan and a UNMNT fan I cn sincerely say I hope he Columbus Crew do not pick him up. Yes, I am a Crew fan. Columbus ’til I. die!

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  7. Who would you rather have, Brian Ching or Eddie Johnson? I would rather have EJ, he as 10+ goal potential. Brian Ching has not scored more than 10 goals in a season since 2008. I think Brian ching is washed up. Saying you have played/ gotten the attention of scouts in Europe to the point where clubs will spend money to acquire you, automatically makes you superior to players that don’t even come on the radar of European clubs. These guys arent idiots, they go to remote corners of the world and find players playing on mud fields with no shoes that have potential. To use the “he failed in Europe, so he wont make it in MLS standard” then Landon Donovan cannot be a quality player having “failed” at leverkusen and munich before returning to MLS, and he is easily a top-5 US field player.

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  8. Sounds to me that the guy is coming with a lot of bad baggage and knows since no one internationally has any interest if the MLS doesn’t offer him something, he’s done. I like to see Montreal sign him and trade him for LaToux.

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  9. I saw a picture of him chatting with Sounders technical director Chris Henderson during the Sounders scrimmage against the U17 national team today. I’m pretty sure the Sounders were interested in him when he was initially set to sign with the league a few months ago. If I recall correctly that was before the Sounders signed Sammy Ochoa so they might not have a spot for him. But it’s something to keep an eye on.

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  10. He could go to Chivas USA. We need strikers. We have Casey Townsend, Angel (although still has not signed a contract), Moreno (who is now a midfielder) and……youth player Chris Cortez.

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  11. In fairness to competition, they need to make Americans (including green card holders) and Canadians count as domestic players for both US-based and Canadian-based teams while their at it. I agree it’s a North American league.

    (I’m working under the assumption that this is not the case – I might be wrong)

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  12. I just looked up the rules posted on the MLS site and it makes no mention of Canadian Internationals, only US Internationals and former MLS players returning from abroad being involved in this process.

    I would think that Canadian teams should be exempt picking US Internationals via this process or Canadian Internationals should be included in this too. This seems unfair, or it just might be the case that this hasn’t happened yet (outside de Guzman at TFC, who was a DP and part of a different mechanism all together) to warrant a rule change.

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  13. Yeah, I get what your saying, however, consider what would happen when Boca wants to come home and say Toronto is at the top of the allocation list. The guy is a USMNT star and captain. For him to be allocated to a Canadian team would be insane. The ONLY reason he would play here is to finish out his career in his homeland, and to risk that in the name of supposed ‘fairness’ to Canadian teams seems nuts

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  14. Do U.S.-based teams get a crack at returning Canuck internationals? Someone will surely want David Hoillet, Simeon Jackson, etc. in 5+ years.

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  15. My money is on Montreal they have a ton of Allocation dough and just cleared 400k of cap space. EJ is a project and probably won’t be able to start for few months while he’s getting match fit but there is a large upside. His last season at KC he had a decent strike rate and his speed will still create opportunities on the counter which an expansion side should covet.

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  16. DC doesn’t really need forwards anymore. Their starters are Salihi and DeRosario, and Maicon Santos and Josh Wolff will do for depth. Ben Olsen also thinks Chris Pontius is really a forward.

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  17. i’m sure he’s eaten a whole plate or two of crow since Puebla showed him the door. it’ll probably be on the conference room table over negotiations with the league.

    that said, i hope he’s got his head screwed on tight now and is ready to go to work.

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  18. don’t think he’ll last that long–he’ll be picked up by one of the teams above DC. Montreal and NE needs strikers and Vancouver could use him to deal for another player.

    Just because people say he sucks in Europe and he suck with the nats doesn’t mean he sucks. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but there you go.

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