STOCKHOLM — Yura Movsisyan has joined Swedish club Djurgården on a six-month loan with an option for Djurgården to purchase his contract, sports director Bosse Andersson told the club web site. Movsisyan was waived by Real Salt Lake on the eve of the 2018 MLS season.
“This is a good deal for us,” he said, “and we get a skilled striker who has made a very good impression on us. It will be very exciting to follow Yura in DIF in the future. He has not played matches for a while but has trained on his own. It will certainly take some time for him to get started fully, but we have shown that we have a good squad so I’m happy with the situation.”
Movsisyan, 30, was drafted out of junior college and played five seasons with MLS, two with Kansas City and three with RSL, before his first move to Europe. The Armenian international played at Spartak Moscow and Krasnodar in Russia after starting out at Danish club Randers.ad so I’m happy with the situation.”
Movsisyan, who played for RSL when it won MLS Cup 2009, scored nine goals in 29 games in 2016 and had seven goals last season but he fell out of favor with new coach Mike Petke, who started Luis Silva up front for the latter portion of the season when RSL made a late playoff run and two of the three games so far in 2018. Spanish signing Alfredo Ortuno started the third game.
“It feels great to sign for Djurgården and come back and play in Europe again. It’s a nice club with a mighty venue and I’ve seen and heard a lot about the fans who create a terrible pressure on the stands,” said Yura, who also received some insider tips from a true Djurgården legend.
“I played with Kim Källström in Spartak Moscow and he told me a lot, but I have had a good look at Swedish football since my time in Denmark when I played for Randers. I think that Allsvenskan (Swedish professional league) has reached a whole new level in the last five years, where Swedish teams are beginning to make an impression in Europe,” Movsisyan said.