Onyewu to Milan: Big Move for the Big Man

By: Daryl | July 8th, 2009

With all respect to DaMarcus Beasley’s spell at PSV, Claudio Reyna at Rangers and, erm, Cobi Jones at Coventry City, Oguchi Onyewu signing for Milan is arguably the most high profile move by an American soccer player, ever.

I’m not counting Tim Howard’s move to Man Utd, because Howard is a goalkeeper and the world already knows about American goalkeepers. I’m not counting Landon Donovan’s winter vacation with Bayern Munich either, because it barely happened.

So in terms of outfield American players proving they can succeed with a one of the big boy European teams… Onyewu to Milan is the big one. But will it work out?

I’m sure I’m not the only one to point this out but… Gooch’s game (big athletic defender who can head away crosses for fun) appears much more suited to the English Premier League than the Italian Serie A. His loan spell with Newcastle didn’t really work out, but that’s probably because there’s a curse on Newcastle defenders.

And it’s not like he’s been signed as a first choice central defender by Milan either. As Gianfranco “points out on AC Milan Offside, Gooch has got Alessandro Nesta, Thiago Silve and Kakha Kaladze in his way. This could all end with Gooch sitting on the bench for a year before being loaned out somewhere else.

But maybe not. Both Nesta and Kaladze have been a bit fragile in recent years, so there will be opportunities for Onyewu to play. After that it’s up to the big man to do what he does best. And though I’d prefer to see Onyewu in the Premier League (or Bundesliga) it could still happen for him in Italy.

American players have already established themselves as reliable players with mid and lower level European teams (eg Fulham). So even if it doesn’t quite work out for Onyewu at the San Siro, even if future Milan fans aren’t debating Baresi vs Maldini vs Gooch for best ever rossoneri defender, then even the fact that Onyewu has signed for Milan can be seen as progress. It’s the logical next step in terms of American players bettering themselves and improving the reputation of American soccer as a whole. Now if only Landon Donovan could figure out a way to join him…