AZ Alkmaar have confirmed they have reached an agreement with Werder Bremen to allow Aron Jóhannsson to enter discussions with the Bundesliga club.
The American international will not travel with the Dutch side to Turkey for their UEFA Europa League qualifier against Istanbul Basakehir, instead making his way to Bremen for talks over a contract and a medical. According to Dutch paper, de Telegraaf, the Northerners will shell out around €5m for his services and sign him to a four-year deal.
Goalscoring pedigree
Jóhannsson, 24, netted 38 times and added 11 assists during his spell in the Netherlands, during which he made his first appearance for the US national team. In his first season there, he won the KNVB Cup. He has scored three goals in 12 outings for Jürgen Klinsmann's side after making his debut in August 2013. AZ picked him up from Aarhus GF, where he had a similarly impressive goalscoring record as a relatively inexperienced forward.
It was with Aarhus where Jóhannsson broke the record for the quickest Superliga hat-trick, netting all three goals in three minutes 50 seconds. That surpassed from Schalke 04 striker Ebbe Sand's time of 4.02 minutes for Brondby against Vejle BK in November 1997. Whether the American can follow in Sand's footsteps and guide Bremen to success remains to be seen, although he looks to be a great replacement for Franco di Santo.
Can he fill di Santo's shoes?
The Argentine swapped Bremen for Schalke this summer, and Viktor Skrypnyk has acted quickly to replace last season's top goalscorer. The Ukrainian will have a new-look front two this season, after Davie Selke left the club for RB Leipzig earlier in the window.
Anthony Ujah has arrived from 1. FC Köln and has looked in fine form during pre-season. If an injury crisis strikes up from Florian Grillitsch and Johannes Eggestein, two hugely promising youngsters, could make the step up into first-team football.