The 2015-2016 club season was supposed to be a breakout year for Aron Johansson. After a strong 2014-2015 campaign with AZ Alkmaar and serving as one of the lone bright spots for the United States Men’s National Team during the Gold Cup the 22-year old made the jump to Werder Bremen. But injuries can dash away all hopes with a snap and it appears that is where Aron is at. On Wednesday Bremen CEO Thomas Eichon intimated that Johansson may be shut down for the rest of 2015 after undergoing hip surgery in September.
Eichon told Dutch magazine Bild “It might work out that he’ll play again in 2015. In the worst case, he will only return for the second half of the season.” Johansson sustained his injury seven games into his first Bundesliga campaign. The club had previously non-surgicial treatments in the hopes that the hip issue would be resolved.
Howeveras Eichon stated during the interview there was a nerve issue that was hindering his rehabilitation and thus surgery was required. “The medical showed that he could join us. But the work load had a negative effect,” Eichon said. “We then decided that he needed surgery.”
Bremen are currently in fourteenth place in the Bundesliga. Prior to beating Mainz last week the side had lost their last five matches and scored just one goal.
In terms of what this means for the United States Men’s National Team Johansson was likely one of the few forwards up top who has had some success recently. His injury certainly means that he will be out of action for November’s World Cup Qualifying matches and any friendlies during January camp. He will though likely be ready for the qualifiers scheduled against Guatemala on March the 25th and the 29th.
Probably the worst part of this news though is what it means for his club career. After having started pretty well with Bremen Johansson will likely have to regain his starting position with the side once he returns next year. For any player that is never an easy task. Americans in particular seem to struggle with this position. Johansson has proven himself to be someone who can overcome adversity so it will be interesting to see how he reacts to a new situation next year with Bremen.
