Shane O’Neill is healthy again and training in Europe for the second straight offseason, giving the Colorado Rapids hope their rising young center back will return better than ever in 2015.
O’Neill is currently training with Sheffield Wednesday of England’s second-tier Championship division, his second offseason stint abroad in as many years. Last year he trained with Fulham, and he said he views this stint as another opportunity to get valuable off-season training with one of England’s established clubs.
“I was looking forward to some time off, but this opportunity is too good to pass up,” O’Neill told coloradorapids.com. “Anytime you get a chance to train with a club like this, it’s massive, and I’m excited to see how much my game has grown since I went last year.”
He’s expected to return to Colorado on Dec. 4.
O’Neill endured something of a frustrating season with the Rapids in 2014, his second full season since signing as a Homegrown player with the Rapids in June 2012. He suffered an MCL sprain midway through the year and missed time from mid-July to mid-September, right around the time a promising Rapids season began to go off the rails.
O’Neill finished with 21 appearances this year for the club, but it wasn’t enough to help them avoid posting the third-worst record in MLS this season and an eighth-place finish in the Western Conference.
Still, it was a year to remember for O’Neill, who earned his first call-up to the United States national team in January.
“It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride the past two years,” O’Neill said, “but (being a young player) you just have to stay focused and establish yourself and put in strong performances week-in and week-out to prove that you belong.”
Said head coach Pablo Mastroeni: “Having had the opportunity to play alongside Shane and then coach him this past season, I can say that he’s a player that has the hunger and desire to achieve great things. And this time in Europe will also be especially valuable because he missed part of our season this year because of injury.”
