In an interview with Fox Sports, U.S. international Oguchi Onyewu reveals that he is settling in well to his new life at Malaga, in Spain’s La Liga. The 30-year-old says theteam is great, the surroundings are beautiful, but perhaps the only thing missing right now is a little game time.
Since arriving at the club on August 31, Onyewu has been forced to watchMalaga succeed from the bench. Coach Manuel Pellegrini’s first-choice central defenders, Martin Demichelis and Weligton, areboth in excellent form, and Malaga is currently excelling in both La Liga, where it is currently third, and the UEFA Champions League, where it is top of Group C.
Nevertheless, the bigdefender maintains that he is content. “I am very happy and fortunate that I got the opportunity to come here,” Onyewu says. “I am settling in well, adapting to the style of play, the team and theleague. I am feeling good, I am ready and waiting to get my opportunity.” He understands that as long as the team is playing well, there is no reason to change. “But a lot of things can happenin sport,” he says, “suspension, injury, losing the favor of the coach. That can happen overnight. I am just waiting for an opportunity.”
Onyewu is much-traveled over the lastfew years. After initially making his name at Standard Liege in Belgium, the big defender was signed by AC Milan in 2009. However, he suffered a knee injury while on national team duty, whichsidelined him for the entire 2009-2010 season. After a loan stint at FC Twente in 2011, Onyewu joined Sporting CP later that summer on a free transfer, without having made a single Serie A appearancefor the Rossoneri. He spent the entire 2011-2012 season in Portugal, and then opted to go out on loan to Malaga in the dying hours of the transfer window earlier this year.