From dream Genk to Charlotte, Uronen's second life: "This is how MLS convinced me"
From his Finland to the States, with many stops in Europe in between. Uronen's career has seen different facets, made up of disappointments and many important goals. Last summer he chose to change his life and give his career a boost: he said goodbye to European football and said yes to MLS. “He convinced me all together” he tells us. Jere isn't the first to say it.
Our interview with Jere Uronen
The quality of life in the USA and a growing league: this is how MLS is convincing more and more European footballers to pack their bags and cross the ocean. “It's important to me to have the right environment for my family and Charlotte is that. Then the MLS is a championship that has intrigued me for some time" Uronen tells gianlucadimarzio.com.
In August, in fact, the Finnish left back chose Charlotte's project after important experiences. It all starts from his Finland: “I always wanted to play football when I was little. Before in my town there were only sand fields, the situation was not simple."
The class of 1994 grew up in a complicated football context. But the present tells of a growing Finland and this point of view has arisen: "When I was little the situation was more complicated: outside it's often -8 degrees, it wasn't easy to train."
Jere's journey reached very high points. The first in 2016, when after a Swedish interlude the call from Genk arrived: “At Genk I had the best experience of my career. I didn't know anything about the Belgian league, but in the end I had a really good time: I won trophies, I played in the Champions League. And then I had great players as teammates: I think of Trossard, Malinovskiy, Vandenberghe. They always wanted to win."
Five years, many satisfactions and titles on the board. Then the farewell and the move to France, to Brest: “Everything was different. It wasn't easy, I had several ankle injuries and relapses. But I learned a lot."
The experience with Brest teached him many things. Also because playing against Messi, Neymar and Mbappé certainly leaves you with something good: "The only thing I remember is that you had to be ready for anything with them. But these are the best matches, they test you against the best in the world."
And then comes Charlotte and the MLS: “I found a very competitive league. Football is then experienced in a different way". This is why football in the States is growing. A different culture, a different way of seeing football that European footballers like quite a bit. Uronen is confirmation of this.