January 4, 2007
Michael Adubato for Yanks Abroad
Apparently Onyewu's current club, Standard Liege in Belgium, wants more than $1.9 million for the US International defender.
There are rumors coming from the Fulham camp that the English club has upped their offer for Onyewu and that he will join Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and perhaps Clint Dempsey at Craven Cottage.
DC United close to adding Brazilian midfielder Ruy
DC United has made a lot of noise this offseason with their losses as they've sent Freddy Adu to Real Salt Lake, Alecko Eskandarian to Toronto FC, and having lost head coach Peter Nowak to Bob Bradley and US Soccer.
Now the club is close to making a big addition as there are reports that they are about to sign Brazilian right outside midfielder Ruy who has been with Botafogo in Rio.
Ruy would replace Adu in a spot that the young American never really felt comfortable in.
Checketts not planning on letting Adu go anytime soon
It will be interesting to see who wins a battle of wills between Real Salt Lake's young phenom and their owner.
Adu's contract with MLS runs through 2007. But, MLS also has the option for two more years. And you know that Checketts and Real Salt Lake will want to pick up those option years.
Adu has always been a player to push things. Whether it was turning pro at 14 or pushing for a bigger role and more playing time with DC or his trial with Manchester United recently, Adu has always seemed to have expectations that outpaced reality.
It will be very interesting to see how Adu responds if there were a big European club interested in his services and Checketts and the league blocked the move. We've seen players like Shalrie Joseph, Eddie Johnson, and Clint Dempsey having varying reactions to be held onto by MLS. I can only imagine how a teenager would react in that situation.
WUSA back in 2008?
Perhaps the Rochester-Cary rivalry can expand from the USL 1st Division to WUSA v2.0............................
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
