Real Betis defender Heiko Westermann hopes to play in the United States before his career ends.
The 32-year-old former Germany international joined Real Betis on a free transfer in the summer when his contract at Bundesliga strugglers, Hamburger SV, expired.
Though Westermann intends to stay at Real Betis for some time yet, he has one other dream he would like to fulfill before his retirement. Speaking to German new agency, Sport-Informations-Dienst , he said: "I would really like to go to the United States for one year."
The Bavaria-born defender, who felt he had become a divisive figure among fans during his five years in Hamburg, said he "needed a change of scenery" at the end of his contract.
"At Hamburg, fifty percent were for me, fifty percent were against me," Westermann said, "The road had ended."
Westermann, who was nicknamed HW4 by the club in reference to Cristiano Ronaldo's famous CR7 trademark, recorded a rap song, "I am HW4", in 2014. Speaking of the hype around his trademark, he said "it created a stir nobody expected."
Happy to be out of the spotlight since moving to La Liga, Westermann told SID "I enjoy playing football again."
Though currently side-lined with an ankle injury, Westermann said: "Except my current injury everything's top here."
