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Aron Johannsson to Werder Bremen is win-win-win situation for clubs, USMNT

Aron Johannsson to Werder Bremen is win-win-win situation for clubs, USMNT

A United States men's national team player in the German Bundesliga – what else is new?

Well, what's new is that U.S. forward Aron Johannsson, one of the few Americans to acquit himself well in the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup, is joining the merry band of German-Americans already active there – a half-dozen of whom receive regular USA call-ups – now that Werder Bremen has agreed a deal with AZ Alkmaar.

"AZ has reached an agreement in principle with Werder Bremen over the transfer of Aron Johannsson," the Dutch Eredivisie side wrote on its website. "The club has given the 24-year-old striker permission to come to a personal agreement with the Germans. If AZ and Werder complete the details of their agreement, Johannsson agrees on personal terms and he passes his medical, the American national team player will sign a multi-year contract with Werder Bremen."

The club didn't disclose the exact transfer sum agreed upon. But in recent years, AZ has typically sold its successful strikers for around 5 million Euros ($5.48 million at Tuesday's exchange rate), with the exception of the 2013 sale of fellow U.S. striker Jozy Altidore to Sunderland for some $13 million. According to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, Johannsson will be fetching "at least" 5 million Euros as well.

"They came in on Saturday and really wanted Aron badly," AZ technical director Earnie Stewart, a long-time U.S. national team player, told AZ's website in a video reaction. "As a policy, we set prices [for our players] ahead of time and they agreed to [Johannsson's]. On that score, this is an excellent deal for AZ, and we hope and think it will be for Aron as well."

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"It's obviously nice to make the next step," Johannsson told RTV Noord-Holland. "Once they came and were interested, it was a pretty easy choice for me to decide to do it. Obviously I want to play for a better team in a better league and Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world. It's a step in the right direction for me."

"It's been a learning period and it's been a very nice period," Johannsson said of his time with AZ. "Four or five months after I signed we won the [Dutch] cup and we had some very good success in the Europa League and last year to finish third in the Eredivisie. I've been here 2½ years and it's been a very good part of my career so far."

Stewart explained that it's AZ's policy to bring in young players of promise, develop them at AZ and sell them when they're ready for the next level. This, he argued, is essentially the role of the Dutch league at this point. That's exactly what happened with the Alabama-born Icelandic-American Johannsson. He joined the club from AGF Aarhus in Denmark at 22, scored 17 league goals in his first full season – succeeding Altidore as the striker – became a U.S. national teamer, made the World Cup squad and scored nine more goals in his injury-truncated 2014-15 campaign.

Now he moves on to the stronger Bundesliga, where he'll likely succeed Franco Di Santo (who has left for Schalke 04) as the striker for Werder, which placed 10th last season.

The transfer seems to make sense for all sides. With AZ satisfied with the return on its investment – and a successor already signed in Dutch under-21 national teamer Vincent Janssen – Johannsson, now 24, gets to continue his development, while Werder has attracted a new striker with a high upside at a seemingly reasonable price.

Unlike during Altidore's ill-fated tenure with Sunderland, which was a big step up from AZ, it's unlikely that Johannsson will be buried in the depth chart and have to fight for every minute on the field. Anthony Ujah, a Nigerian striker who has come over from FC Koln, appears to be his only real competition for playing time.

Johannsson's climb up the European ladder should benefit the U.S. national team, which has, to the dismay of German head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, seen scores of players leave Europe for bloated contracts in Major League Soccer. Johannsson was reportedly also offered to MLS teams, but Klinsmann will be pleased that he'll be active in one of Europe's most competitive leagues instead.

This, then, seems like the rare deal from which all parties involved emerge as winners.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.