Former Fulham forward Eddie Johnson has been signed by MLS and will be assigned to a club Thursday through the allocation process, league executive V.P. Todd Durbin said Tuesday.
Johnson, 27, left MLS (where he played for Dallas and Kansas City) for Fulham in 2008 but failed to stick with the English Premier League club.
He spent time on loan with Cardiff City and Preston North End in the English second division and Greece's Aris Thessaloniki (where he teamed up with Freddy Adu). Johnson's contract with Fulham expired this summer.
Johnson was among the players named to the 30-man 2010 World Cup preliminary roster, but he was cut before the squad left for South Africa. He has spent 45 minutes in a U.S. uniform since, playing the second half of a 0-0 tie with Colombia last October.
Chivas USA sits atop the MLS allocation order, which gives the team the first crack at a returning national team player signed by the league.
The Los Angeles club has passed on midfielders Benny Feilhaber and Freddy Adu since D.C. United, the previous No. 1, jumped at the chance to sign forward Charlie Davies in February.
Should Chivas pass again-and with rumors linking the club to departing Los Angeles Galaxy forward Juan Pablo Ángel, it just may-the Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC and Chicago Fire are next in line.
There was a time when Johnson, a native of Bunnell, Fla., was considered a future star. He burst onto the scene in 2004-his fourth MLS season-scoring 12 goals for FC Dallas.
That October he had three goals in a World Cup qualifier against Panama in Washington, D.C., prompting Portuguese power Benfica to bid $5 million for him. Johnson and MLS turned it down, and one year later he was traded to Sporting Kansas City.
In January 2008, Johnson moved to Fulham but was unable to establish himself at a club hospitable to other American players.
He scored seven goals combined for his four European teams. He spent last spring at Preston, where he failed to find the net for a team that was unable to stave off relegation to England's third tier. Johnson made $875,000 in 2007, his final season with Kansas City.