| Johnson almost joined Derby
Kansas City Wizards striker Eddie Johnson has turned down an offer from Premier League newcomers Derby to stay in the United States.
Rams boss Billy Davies is looking strengthen his squad ahead of the club's return to the top flight after five seasons in England's second tier.
Davies has already broken County's transfer record to bring in striker Robert Earnshaw for £3.5million from Norwich, while he has also signed defenders Andy Todd and Tyrone Mears this summer.
Johnson, who is the leading scorer in Major League Soccer this season with 12 goals from 11 games - including back-to-back hat-tricks earlier in the campaign - admitted he came close to making the switch to Pride Park.
However after giving the offer some thought, the USA international instructed his agent to tell Derby that he would not be accepting their offer.
He told the Kansas City Star: "It was close, 95% of the way there."
But the 23-year-old added: "I did what my heart felt. The money wasn't a problem. The money was great.
"But I'm a big believer that when my confidence is high, and I'm confident in what I'm doing, good things are yet to happen for me."
Johnson, who trained with Reading for a spell during the MSL off-season, may yet head for Europe in the future and said: "I know if I keep doing what I'm doing, there are going to be other opportunities for me, and some are going to come up that I can't pass up." |