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Onyewu signs short-term deal with Sheffield Wednesday

Oguchi Onyewu

By FRANCO PANIZO

Oguchi Onyewu’s search for playing time will be keeping him in England.

Onyewu has signed a short-term deal with Sheffield Wednesday after a brief stint with fellow Championship club Queens Park Rangers in which he did not see the field. The veteran centerback’s contract with the Owls runs through the end of the current campaign, and marks the 10th different club he has played for in his career.

The 31-year-old Onyewu, who signed with QPR in late October, is hoping to earn consistent minutes to make it onto the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup roster this summer. Onyewu has played in the last two World Cups, but has not been a regular under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Many observers thought Onyewu’s status as a free agent might mean a move to MLS, considering that his hometown D.C. United have the first spot in this season’s allocation order. Onyewu, however, never publicly indicated that MLS was an option for him.

Sheffield Wednesday currently sit in 19th place in the Championship and are just four points clear of the relegation zone. They return to action on Tuesday with an FA Cup rematch vs. Macclesfield Town before visiting Burnley on Jan. 18.

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What do you think of Onyewu signing with Sheffield Wednesday? Do you see him earning lots of playing time? Wishing he would have come to MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If memory serves, we had already qualified and he should of been sitting for the CR game, when his kneecap relocated to the side of his leg!! I cannot let B. Bradley off so easy about Gooch’s tribulations since that fateful day!! Should of made the US all-time IX had he stayed healthy! Loved him against the mexico midgets……..

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  2. Gooch’s Europe career is ending faster and faster, her needs to realize this and sign with MLS and get that good will money. Dynamo are looking to replace Boswell, could be a good fit.

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    • He can still find his level in Europe. 1 1/2 years ago, he was the starting CB for Sporting Lisbon.He’s DP level at CB in the MLS, so why not stay where you will get paid, He’s not making the USMNT for Brazil. Thus the issue no MLS middle class.

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      • No, Sorry but he is not, he is slow and teams don’t typically give backs DP contracts…whether it is a result of his knee injury or the fact that he has just hit his ceiling he is just about done.

  3. He can com to MLS this summer, hopefully to DC, and hopefully without use of the silly allocation order.

    By the end of January, I expect to see Jermaine Jones come to DC though.

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    • highly unlikely that Gooch comes to MLS considering MLS’s wage structure. MLS doesn’t offer player mid-level salaries. It’s either DP money or a contract in the 150-300k range. Gooch’s market value is closer to 500-750k.

      You’d see a lot more Americans coming back to MLS if MLS didn’t have these stupid salary restrictions.

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      • I’d rather have any sub-DP salaried player than Gooch at his “market value” of 500-750k. He has had only one season where he has played half the season since his move to Milan in ’09 and he has played 11 games (that includes his two international appearances) since August of 2012. Except for the fact that he is Gooch there is no reason to look at that resume and think he is worth the money you are proposing. 26 year old Gooch would have been a great DP investment, but closing in on 32 year old Gooch is lucky to be worth 200k in MLS. Hell, Steven Caldwell was a consistent starter in the English Championship with a team that finished 4th and he signed for TFC at 80k a year. Why would Gooch be worth 10 times that amount when he can’t even see the field for a similarly placed team?

      • Gooch is a bad example because he’s so injury prone.But MLS misses out on a lot of players because of the low cap +DP stupidity.

        A simple $16 mil cap for instance and you’d see the quality in MLS go up quite substantially. I can name about 10 Americans currently in leagues in Europe that would be much better off playing in MLS if they could get their market salary.

      • you don’t understand the sport of soccer. You cannot field a quality side with a low cap + DP rule. The result will be star players with League 1 quality players. This is why MLS gets horrible ratings.

      • agreed. its at 3 million now. raise that to 5 million within 5 years and it will dramatically change the game.

      • Bob, what do mean I don’t understand the sport of soccer? Seeing that I spent over 30 years involved in the sport on 3 continents including roughly 16 years as a player, I think I do.

        Besides, this has more to do with building a self-sustaining business while maintaining a relatively high level of skilled employees. This is not a closed system, so people will gravitate towards the best deal for them and that does not always involve money. As a result, MLS has to give teams enough lee way pay their mid-tier players well. However, there has to be some restriction because you do not want teams spending into bankruptcy competing with Seattle utterly dominating because they could fill a bench with millionaires (or close to it). As the growth continues, the Cap situation will improve (as it will this year when they renegotiate). I honestly feel 5 or 6 million is a good Cap with 3 DP exceptions. Lock it in and see the waht happens over the course of 3/5 years.

        Btw, just because you can spend more than anyone else does not mean you will get the best players. China/Russia have shown that you will only get 2nd tier players or players near the end of their careers no matter how much they pay for the most part. People gravity to certain leagues and teams do to history, play etc. For example, I seriously doubt MB90 would have come back if he was starter and get 20% less money in Rome than his current deal.

  4. “The 31-year-old Onyewu, who signed with QPR in late October, is hoping to earn consistent minutes so as to try and make it onto the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup roster this summer.”

    Lol, he’s got virtually no shot at Brazil.
    1. Besler
    2. Gonzales
    3. Cameron
    4. Goodson
    5. Brooks
    6. Orozco
    7. Mo Edu (If was loaned out and got playing time anywhere, I’d take him over Gooch in an emergency)

    Not to mention a few MLS CBs probably have a better shot.

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    • yes, though he never really lived up to the hype at that point even. Prior to ’06 he said something like he wanted to be the new modern CB like we havent seen before.

      anyway, good luck to him. hopefully he gets some PT

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    • disagree, he was living up to the hype at that point – he wasn’t starting at AC Milan, but he was there, and who knows what he could have learned from Maldini, Nesta and others

      He was scoring for the usmnt and was a beast in concacaf. He beat the living sh– out of mexico in a qualifier earlier in the hex. His potential seemed limitless before the Costa Rica knee blow out

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      • I watched his 1st game with ACM. He looked like a new foal trying to run with the race horses. He was outclassed by their opponent (CA) and looked stiff and slow. He lacked the pace, agility and ball handling skills needed by today’s CB’s. He was old school. Used brute force to get the ball and head/kick it as far upfield as possible. As far as his potential, he overreached with ACM.

      • all you have done is proven my point – he still had potential to learn – he had all the athletic ability in the world and needed to be trained –

        you are right, in his first games with AC Milan, they put him up front – potential, not the finished product. who knows what he could have done with time

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