Sounders acquire Swedish right back Adam Johansson

By Money Mike



Coming into this offseason, GM Adrian Hanauer said the main focus was signing a Goalkeeper and a couple of outside backs after Kasey Keller retired, James Riley was taken by the Montreal Impact in the Expansion Draft before being traded to Chivas USA and Tyson Wahl was traded to the Montreal Impact. You can consider all those holes being filled in now. The Sounders already signed Goalkeeper Michael Gspurning and selected Left Back Marc Burch in the Re-Entry Draft. Now the Sounders have signed a Right Back. Earlier this morning, the Sounders have signed Swedish international Adam Johansson after his contract with IFK Goteborg expired.

According to reports, Johansson has agreed to a three year contract with the Seattle Sounders and will join the club in late January due to the fact that he was called up by Sweden. Otherwise he would've joined camp on time.

Johansson began his professional career with local club Vastra Frolunda which is also where former Sounder Erik Friberg, who revealed this signing with a series of Tweets, began his footballing career. Johansson spent three seasons with Vastra Frolunda and made 66 appearances for the club with a goal to his credit. He joined IFK Goteborg in 2005 and didn't feature regularly in this first two seasons there. In 2007, Johansson finally established himself as a starter for Goteborg. Johansson started 24 of 26 matches as Goteborg won the 2007 Allsvenskan title. In his seven seasons over there, he made 129 appearances and scored one goal.

Johansson has also capped 9 times for the Swedish national team. His first cap came January 2009 against the United States.


Thoughts on this move:

Well I would still consider looking for another Right Back in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft because Sweden qualified for EURO 2012, which means he could be in consideration for that squad that will participate in the European Championship in June. That was the question I had with myself on Michael Gspurning, but Austria didn't qualify so I don't need to worry about that. Anyway, this is a great move. This guy comes in with good technical ability and should help meet one of the biggest offseason goals for the Men in Rave Green which is better possession from their fullbacks.