Eredivisie runners-up FC Twente announced on Friday that they will not exercise their option to acquire US defender Oguchi Onyewu on a permanent basis following the expiration of his six-month loan deal from AC Milan.
The player's representative and a spokesman for the Italian club were not immediately available for comment.
The central defender played a total of 14 matches for Twente but missed crucial matchups at the end of the season due to an abdominal injury suffered in practice earlier this month. Although Twente captured the Dutch domestic cup, they finished in second place in the Eredivisie after a loss to Ajax Amsterdam in the final match of the regular season.
AC Milan, the newly crowned Italian league champions, hold the contractual rights for Onyewu’s services but it is unclear what the American’s future holds. The Rossoneri back line features the likes of Brazilian Thiago Silva, Colombian Mario Yepes and Italians Alessandro Nesta and Nicola Legrottaglie.
The coach who acquired Onyewu for AC Milan, Brazilian Leonardo, has since left the squad and now coaches city rivals Inter Milan.
Onyewu sat out the most recent matches with Twente in part to recover from the injury in time to be part of the US national team’s quest to win the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He arrived in Cary, N.C., on Thursday to join Bob Bradley’s squad for the start of US camp ahead of a June 4 tune-up match against World Cup champions Spain in Foxoborough, Mass.
