George John Heading Back To FC Dallas, As Transfer To West Ham Falls Through

Although clearly not the situation John was hoping for, this has to be seen as a positive for FC Dallas. Now with John, they go from a team with significant question marks on defense to one that could be quite deep. Chances are John won’t immediately step into the starter’s role, as he has missed the entirety of preseason, but he is one of the league’s top centerbacks and should be able to reclaim that spot relatively quickly.

Longer term, it’s now more clear than ever that John does not see himself as having a future with FC Dallas. This was the second time in less than a year that a transfer to England has fallen through. Previously, he was close to joining Blackburn but he never actually got to the point of training with them. This time, he was able to train with West Ham for about two months, although he was always facing an uphill battle as West Ham is currently at the top of the English Championship table and has solid players at centerback.

The George John transfer saga was given a new wrinkle on Monday. According to Steve Davis of Daily Soccer Fix, John is close to moving to West Ham. The twist is that it will be on a loan instead of on a transfer as previously believed.

If all goes well in England, John could be gone for good. But there’s still a chance he could end up back in Dallas to play out the final year of his four-year contract. Basically, Dallas will be unable to fully move on from the situation until the MLS season is just about ready to start.

John and his agent are in England and could have a deal finalized within the next two-to-three days.

According to sources, the opportunity arose out of nowhere for John - who’s agent had said previously this winter that a move wasn’t likely to happen for the center back. A deal came up that was right for him and both Major League Soccer and FC Dallas encouraged him to pursue it.

The news of Gonzalez withdrawing from US camp came as a bit of a surprise to some after he recently made noise in the media about not getting an opportunity to play for the national team. Country-before-club proponents can rattle their sabres all they want, but club football pays the bills and Gonzalez has every right to peruse whatever opportunities are available to him. With only one year left on his contract with the Galaxy, there’s been plenty of speculation about his future in MLS.

A solid performance during his loan with Nuremberg could open doors for a possible transfer in the summer. Nürnberg chairman Martin Bader said in the club’s statement that they had hoped to make a move for the defender in the summer, but the opportunity arose to acquire Gonzalez came sooner than expected. It certainly feels like an extended trial and a clear message of intent from Gonzalez about his desire to ply his craft outside of MLS.