of the season to join Dutch side AZ after making 77 appearances and scoring 10 league goals for The Foxes over two seasons. AZ In February 2006, with his contract starting to run out, he agreed a move to Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, who had been playing in European competitions and had spent most of that season in the top four of the Dutch Eredivisie. He completed the switch and made his debut for AZ on 4 August 2006, in a friendly against Arsenal, coming on as a 64th-minute substitute. AZ lost the game 3–0, which was the first to be played at AZ's new DSB Stadion. Jóhannes Karl did not make his league debut for AZ until 29 October 2006, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute in their 5–1 win at home to FC Utrecht, he then made his first appearance in the UEFA Cup four days later coming on as an 89th-minute substitute in their 5–2 win away at Swiss side Grasshoppers. He made his first start of the season in their 3–1 win away at Heerenveen on 26 November 2006. However, he struggled to establish himself in the AZ team, and quickly returned to English football in January 2007, just five months after joining the club. He had been linked with a return to Leicester City, but this was in the middle of Milan Mandaric's takeover of the club so the Foxes could not sort out their finances in time. He instead joined Burnley for £150,000 on a three-and-half-year deal, after starting just once in the league. Jóhannes Karl's last game for AZ came in their 2–2 draw at home to Slovan Liberec in the UEFA Cup. Burnley Jóhannes Karl signed for Burnley in January 2007, on a three-and-half-year deal. After personal reasons kept him out of some of the remaining games of the season, his pre-season form saw him move back into the starting line-up at the start of the 2007–08 season, although he quickly fell out of favour. He was then dropped from the squad entirely under Steve Cotterill after failing to impress but his fortunes changed when Owen Coyle took over as Burnley manager and he found himself back on the bench. He scored his first goal for Burnley as they beat Watford 2–1 at Vicarage Road on 27 November 2007 in Coyle's second game in charge. He was frequently used as a late