Birmingham City must move fast to sign Oguchi Onyewu
May 22 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
BLUES will have to move fast and flex their financial muscle if they are to secure the services of Oguchi Onyewu.
And manager Alex McLeish has warned that Bobo Balde’s proposed free transfer from Celtic is far from cut and dried.
The Blues boss has made American international Onyewu his top target for the defence this summer.
McLeish watched the 27-year-old in Brussels last night where his side, Standard Liege, drew 1-1 with Anderlecht in the first leg of the Belgium league title play-off.
The return leg is on Sunday and 24 hours later Onyewu, who is also known as Gooch, departs for the USA to prepare for Confederations Cup games against Italy, Brazil and Egypt in South Africa next month, preceded by a friendly against Carlos Costly’s Honduras in Chicago.
Blues have already held talks with Onyewu’s representatives and are among the front-runners for his signature on a free transfer.
But there are at least 10 clubs from various parts of Europe who have expressed a serious interest and Everton could also enter the reckoning as they seek back up to the injured Phil Jagielka and Joseph Yobo.
Onyewu caught Everton’s eye with impressive performances against them in last season’s UEFA Cup.
So if, after the evidence of last night and Sunday, McLeish remains convinced Onyewu is the right man, Blues will have to swing into action immediately and convince him that their financial package – and the prospect of becoming a Premier League regular – is the right one.
