U.S. national team defender Oguchi Onyewu is heading back to AC Milan after Dutch club FC Twente announced Friday that it will not exercise its option to purchase his rights.
Milan loaned Onyewu, a Washington, D.C., native, to Twente in January, and he played 14 games with the eventual Eredivisie runner-up. Twente also won the Dutch Cup, but Onyewu missed the final against Ajax with a minor injury.
Onyewu, 29, unlikely will be in the mix for minutes next fall with Milan, which just claimed its first Italian championship since 2004 and is stocked with world-class defenders.
Onyewu, under contract with Milan through the 2012-13 season, has played just once for the club since signing in the summer of 2009. A knee injury forced him out for most of the 2009-10 season, and the most noteworthy event of last fall was a training-ground brawl with forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic that made global headlines. Milan then sent Onyewu to the Netherlands four months ago.
Nonetheless, U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley says he remains confident in the veteran defender, who has played 59 games and scored six goals for the national team. Bradley named Onyewu to the 23-man side that will play in June's CONCACAF Gold Cup. The U.S. began practicing Friday in Cary, N.C.
?He?s had some ups and downs with injuries. We need to pay close attention to how he does when we start up camp,? Bradley said. ?The loan with Twente, by and large, was a good move and has helped. We will assess it further when we get going. He is a vital player, a vital defender, for us.?
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