AMSTERDAM – Free agent defender Oguchi Onyewu had varying degrees of interest from Augsburg, FC Copenhagen and Stuttgart fall away late in the summer transfer window, MLSsoccer.com has learned.
Sources indicated that the Danish champions looked most likely to tender a contract offer up until the August 21 sacking of manager Ariël Jacobs, who was the boss of arch enemies Anderlecht during Onyewu's time at Standard Liège. New coach Stale Solbakken then opted to bring loan defender Georg Margreitter over from his last post at Wolverhampton.
The chain of events went in a similar manner at Stuttgart, where Bruno Labbadia was fired as manager one week before the transfer window closed for summer. There, new man-in-charge Thomas Schneider chose to pick up Hannover 96 center back Karim Haggui on deadline day.
Onyewu also recently had a minor flirtation from Bundesliga rivals Augsburg which came to nothing in the end. Belgian reports insisted last week that he was all set to join Club Brugge, but the team shot down such talk and a source subsequently told MLSsoccer.com that Gooch only has ongoing interest from one French club at this time.
The 31-year-old US international, who mutually terminated the final year on his Sporting CP deal last week, is back to full fitness from an ankle injury suffered during CONCACAF Gold Cup duty. He is staying sharp by training with the reserve team of recent loan employers Málaga.
