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Report: Onyewu won’t return to Sheffield Wednesday

OguchiOnyewuSheffieldWednesday3 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

Oguchi Onyewu’s club situation is up in the air again.

For the second time in six months and third time in the last 12 months, Onyewu will be looking for a new club after contract negotiations with Sheffield Wednesday broke down, according to a report in the Sheffield Telegraph.

The report states that both Wednesday and Onyewu’s representatives held “several discussions” over the past few weeks but the two sides couldn’t agree on personal terms, leading the club to look elsewhere for defensive options.

Onyewu joined Wednesday last January after a disappointing five-month stint with Queens Park Rangers in which he didn’t play a single game. Onyewu played 18 times for Wednesday and earned a recall to the U.S. Men’s National Team last March, but was not included in head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s 30-man preliminary squad for the 2014 World Cup.

The 32-year-old Onyewu has most recently been training with D.C. United to keep up his fitness while he continues to consider his options. Prior to the spell with Wednesday, Onyewu had only played 53 times in all competitions for a number of clubs since suffering a torn patellar tendon in October 2009.

Onyewu had played for FC Twente, Sporting Lisbon, Malaga after sustained the injury but before joining QPR last fall and Wednesday last winter.

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What do you think of this report? Disappointed to see Onyewu leaving Wednesday? Do you see him remaining in England? Should he sign with MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • I have often said that the the present and future of the USMNT was substantially changed for the worse in a 36-48 hour period when Charlie Davies decided to go drinking and get into that SUV and Gooch’s knee cap went wandering in the last qualifier.

      Reply
  1. GOOCH has the best agent of any YANK footballer ever

    He got a move to AC MILAN thanks to success in Belgium and the Confed Cup of 2009 and of course due to be a free agent and having a Belgian passport

    got a move to Sporting Lisbon even after never playing for Milan. Became a star in Portugal in under 1 season.

    got a move to MALAGA. playing in the CL.

    dude is ON FIRE. I wanna see him in Germany

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  2. Off thread. Europa League qualifying got underway this week. It’s hard to believe but there seems to be a total of 162 club teams to start with.

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  3. Gooch did well for Wednesday, but his fitness declined
    towards the end of his loan, leading to some error strewn performances
    costing the team goals.
    Its easy to see why you guys love him, his commitment was Immense
    and to Imagine what a star he was before his Injuries.

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    • while yes his form dropped toward season’s end, there were other problems with defense and the club itself. Basically Gooch rescued them from probable relegation when he joined. And they clearly wanted him to stay on but I can imagine he was sorta Back to Top Form and wants 1 last offer somewhere in Europe to earn more $$$

      A return to Portugal or Belgium

      or maybe France/Turkey

      he’s not worth the 250-300 he’d demand in MLS but hope he can find some of that cash somewhere in Europe

      Reply
  4. I know Houston would take him in a heartbeat. Dom could resurrect him. CBs having a longer career span anyway in general.

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  5. Just come to MLS, a sucky ownership like DC or crew or Philly will pay him good money.

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    • What? That same sucky DC United ownership that has been able to get through the jungle of the D.C. government to have an actual self-financed stadium proposal in front of the city council? Give them a pass. They’re fighting tooth and nail to ensure that there is a DC United at all.

      In the meantime, who’s in first place this week?

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      • He means the ownership of a team that’s missed the playoffs 5 of the last 6 seasons and last year had the worst record in the history of MLS. And still doesn’t have a stadium deal done.

    • Oneywu should start an NASL team in El Paso then he can play for the team better than playing for bad owners like the Crew, Union, TFC, DC, FC Dallas, NYRB, Portland, RSL, SKC, Chicago, LA Galaxy, Seattle, Montreal, Chelsea, PSG, Manchester…

      Plus El Paso <3 soccer and it is awesome.

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      • youre than nasl to el paso guy arent you. if you can type one post without mentioning el paso, ill give you a cookie.

    • Obviously he didnt crap out at Sheffield, he was a regular for them and it clearly says in the article that hes not continuing with them due to personal terms on the contract. And anyone who is a regular in thr Championship is pretty likely to be a regular in MLS

      Reply
  6. He should go to PSG to beat up on Zlatan again (at least in training, because he will never see the field).

    But then again, David Luiz isn’t looking too hot right now (if you could find him on the back line).

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  7. Thank god he isn’t coming back to Sheffield Wednesday. Absolute liability who look incredibly disinterested towards the back end of the season. We have better defenders than him on the books, waste of a wage, and we can bring in better on a cheaper contract. Will probably go to the MLS seen as it’s a league similar to his level (league one/league two in English Football).

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      • Thank you for supporting America. We need more American fans like you. So sick of the superiority euro snob mentality.

      • Honestly I don’t follow European football as much as MLS or USMNT and I have to agree to the sentiment that Gooch is old, disinterested, and only looking for a paycheck. I appreciate all he’s done but his time is past. He would be a substitute for an Mls side

    • His level was well above Sheffield Wednesday’s before his serious knee injury, hasn’t been the same since, understandably. Also MLS is definitely above League two level, I’d say it’s mid to lower Championship level mostly due to it’s lack of depth of rosters.

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    • Thanks for stopping by. Wonder if this guy is actually from Sheffield or an American who randomly decided to pick an English team and chose poorly. At least he’d get credit for sticking with them. I think he’s English based on his use of words like “wage” and “liability” though he could just be copying what he’s heard elsewhere. Either way, clearly lacks knowledge about MLS.

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      • I’m surprised he didn’t mix up MLS with MSL as most limeys have done in the early days of the league.

      • Nah he’s almost certainly English. The only people who support Sheffield Wednesday and talk like that are Yorkshiremen and the lead singer from Weezer.

    • First off Nigel… If you honestly think MLS is League 2 level… you have absolutely no clue about football…. Top of League 1, bottom of the Championship is about where MLS actually is… most informed managers in England have said as much…

      As for Onyewu @ Wednesday…. He Joined you in January you played half your matches (23 played) where you sat 20th in the league on 22 pts and -7 GD… you ended up in 16th with 53pts and a -2 GD…..

      Now I am not a math whiz but something got better… perhaps he provided something you are not qualified enough to recognize?

      Your fist half form means you could have ended on 44 pts and -14 GD…but that is not what happened did it…

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      • Actually, MLS is harder to quantify. The top players could play in the EPL. The average starter would starter in the Championship. The bench is where it gets weak, because of the salary cap – you’ve got multi-million-dollar DP’s alongside $40K players who would be League 1 players in England, and it’s when MLS teams dip into their bench that the quality really drops.

        The top teams, when they’re fielding their starters, can give Premier league teams a hard time – and do, as witnessed by the record MLS teams have been amassing against EPL teams in the summer friendlies. Heck, the Kansas City Wizards – before they rebranded as Sporting KC – beat Manchester United a few years back. With ten guys. I watched a Vancouver Whitecaps team that was dead-last in MLS at the time almost earn a draw against Manchester City, Balotelli had a meltdown. I remember a few years back Real Madrid played the LA Galaxy in the Colosseum, were down 2-0 to Donovan and Keane at halftime before The Special One decided he was NOT going to get humiliated in front of 90,000 people brought on about a hundred million euros worth of subs (that included Ronaldo, Higuain, and Kaka), and LA went to THEIR bench and countered with a half-dozen guys who might have had a combined salary of $200,000…the game ended up 3-2 for Real. Definitely showed what MLS didn’t have on their bench.

      • Awesome post. I agree 100%. It’s MLS’ disparity in the roster that makes the league a lot weaker than it should.

        Garber, open the checkbook!

      • “The top teams, when they’re fielding their starters, can give Premier league teams a hard time – and do, as witnessed by the record MLS teams have been amassing against EPL teams in the summer friendlies.”

        Really dude, preaseason friendlies wuth the sole purpose of making money? Thats shows MLS teams give Premiere leagues a hard time? I guess a lot of the smaller leagues in Asia are on par with MLS then because these big teams travel around the world to play friendlies and hardly do they destroy their opponents

      • We need to do better in games that count against Mexican teams in the CCL first before talking about top European leagues nightclubbing and barnstorming the US

      • MLS is really tough to quantify because you have huge disparities in terms of salaries and talent between DPs and most other players. In League One the average salary is about $100k but you don’t have anyone earning multi-millions like some of the DPs in MLS. I’ve watched a bunch of games up and down the pyramid while living in London and I think MLS teams would do ok in the Championship.

    • Raise your hand if your national team finished behind the USA for two consecutive World Cups.

      (Nigel raises his hand)

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    • Jolly good show Nigel, The hoody and the sunglasses is a nice touch,
      welcome aboard our pirate ship. The S.S. SBI
      So I heard Peter Gabriel, was singeing your name in some song, a long long time ago?.
      Well it’s every Wednesday,(is that how you spell it?) for you.
      Anyway, it’s a good thing most everyone here did a bang up job of explaining the ins and outs of international footy for you.
      MLS, is a preferred destination,
      You may want to keep that in mind when planing your next vacation.
      NO + 10 for Pele, for you.

      P.S. Nigel, go seek out Ali Dia, or Sir David Beckham, for a compatriot.
      welcome back again any time. have a nice day.

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    • I think that Nigel’s comments are unique to him. Gooch stepped right into the Wednesday line-up when he signed and was a regular player. If he wasn’t the best player for the position, I don’t see how Wednesday was obligated to play him. The Championship is probably the best example of next man up and get your best player on the pitch. With the EPL if you paid a guy big money, you better play him regardless of results IMO

      Reply
    • Seems like a tough move for a defender to come back to MLS. The salaries for defenders tend to be pretty low, so while an MLS team might spring for a midfielder or forward (and get up in the high 6 figures to approach a Euro salary), they might be less willing for a centerback. Gonzalez is the noted exception.

      Maybe there are some exceptions I am forgetting?

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      • …and there in lies the problem. Even at Championship Sheffield, I am pretty sure he gets high 6 figures. Non-DP would be 200K. I don’t know if I would take that I knew I could get near to at least 3-4 times that elsewhere

      • I doubt he makes 6 figures in sheffield (not sure many players do) but he certainly would make more than he’d make in MLS.

  8. I still get goose bumps thinking about the young up and coming Gooch, giving Jared Borgetti that epic stare down. He owned him that game. For me it was a symbol of the US putting it’s claim as the other top team in Concacaf with Mexico. To bad for the horrible injury right when he was in his prime though.

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    • I know! Because of that, up until the Ukraine game, I still had delusional hope that he would bring back that old form.

      I will never forget that injury. Was such a terrible shame and such a freak play, landing wrong on a corner. Really ruined his career – well, what could have been. AC Milan signed him for crying out loud! Even considering the injury, he did well for himself – stints with teams from most of the top teams in Europe. (as short as most of them were, still pretty impressive that they gave him a shot).

      I have to think that the MLS is where he will be.

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      • Seems like he wants to stay in Europe. It’s not like Sheffield didn’t want him back, they just didn’t agree on personal terms aka pay and/or contract length.

        I was hoping he would stay at Sporting Lisbon. He was dong well until the new coach came in and went with the youth movement. He cleared a lot of the veterans out and/or let them know that their services were not needed.

    • Unfortunately, Gooch is looking like a virus at this point. Playing for so many teams in such a small amount of time with the injuries he’s had has to make a dent in any chance he had earning the amount he should, playing for the kind of team he should.

      He’s a DC guy so I’d love to have him back here and playing for us. But it’s obvious that he wants more money than I’d be willing to spend on him.

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    • well, for a new club at least he’ll be able to play on the weekends too and not just midweek. anyway, anybody know if he really eats mexicans. i read that somewhere, and i thought that cannibalism was outlawed.

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    • Agreed. Come on home to MLS. Let us cheer for you a little longer before it’s time to hang them up. Though as a RB fan, that means: don’t go to DC 🙂

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    • another guy who has to suck it up and take less money to further his career. Many MLS teams would take Gooch in a heartbeat if it wasnt too expensive.

      Reply

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