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IFK Gothenburg home buyer on career, injury and future
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Gothenburg. He pushed Sweden to World Cup clubs like Milan and Valencia were interested.
But the crossband injuries stopped and Jakob Johansson, 29, chose a return to IFK Gothenburg.
– I don’t go home scraped anyway, he says.
IFK Göteborgsfansen has been spinning and is perhaps the biggest new acquisition of allsvenskan 2020.
But Jakob Johansson could have been elsewhere.
Although he also pulled the cross band on his right knee during a training session with Rennes in September 2019.
Were there alternatives to moving home even now?
– Yes, but there are different perspectives on this. What alternatives were there last winter before all this happened with the coronavirus? I had conversations with my advisers at an early stage about the various alternatives. There were interested parties.
“It feels great to be back here.”
But you still choose IFK Gothenburg?
– We missed Sweden’s home and the damage was also recorded, but that was not all. We had been abroad for a few years and always said that we wanted to go home sooner or later. So the question is always when is the right time.
On Thursday, the national team midfielder did his first training session with IFK Gothenburg. Unable to rehabilitate with a physical therapist or medical staff when he had a confinement in France, Johansson undertook a career in the woods around Kamratgården. Then there were rehabilitation exercises on the pitch with IFK Gothenburg and national team physiotherapist Fredrik Larsson.
With Johansson in place, former Blåvita Marcus Berg, Benjamin Nygren and Pontus Dahlberg and the rest of IFK Gothenburg around the same plan, there were again a few more people at the scene and he looked: safe and well spread on the edge forest.
– It feels great to be back here. I have had some difficult months without any organized training. It’s good to be back in some kind of everyday life, he says.
The hopes and expectations of him from IFK Gothenburg fans are great. And it is nothing that the 29-year-old player with 17 international matches for Sweden in recent years backtracks.
– I haven’t given it much thought. The focus is on my knee and getting in shape. I probably have the highest expectations. It is quite natural that you have expectations of me with the experiences that I bring in my luggage.
Photo: Claudio Bresciani / TT / TT NEWS AGENCY
Jakob Johansson.
Photo: Andreas Bardell / Aftonbladet / TT / TT NEWS OFFICE
The playoff injury returns to Italy at San Siro.
“There was talk of Milan and Valencia …”
And what are your expectations for you?
– Almost the same as when I left IFK Gothenburg. So I was a leading player on the team and that’s what I hope to contribute some additional experience now as well.
In 2016 and 2017, Johansson’s career increased significantly at AEK Athens. He was involved in bringing the great Greek team back to the supreme league and made a great success of the Swedish national team.
Clubs like Valencia, Las Palmas, Milan, Toulouse and Racing Genk showed interest. AEK Athens put a high price on their Swedish business.
Then the fatal playoff injury back to Italy at San Siro likely ended a really big move.
Do you ever know Damn, I missed the great opportunity.
– I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done anyway. Of course, I am not happy with all the damage that has been, it has been shit, but it is also part of football.
– There was talk of Milan and Valencia. It may not have been better for me there because there are bigger clubs.
Very bad in long-term plans.
Probably more money in the bank account.
– Maybe. But I’m not poor from France, either, he says with a smile.
He has signed a contract with IFK Gothenburg for 2.5 years, until December 2022. At that time he is 32 years old.
However, your ambition is to return abroad some time later?
– I understand that question because sometimes it is portrayed that those who do not have ambitions do not want something, they will not appear. I don’t see it that way.
– I don’t think Milan or Valencia should contact them to check how good I will be in Swedish. It is not just a ridiculous cliche, but my only thoughts here and now are about being the best I can be at IFK Gothenburg and allsvenskan. I know that anything is possible, but I am very poor at having long-term plans.
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