Real Salt Lake have signed veteran English center back Nedum Onuoha ahead of the roster freeze deadline on Friday, sources have confirmed to MLSsoccer.com.
Onuoha broke the news of his signing in an interview with BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday.
The sources told MLSsoccer.com that Onuoha’s deal is guaranteed through 2019 with a club option for 2020. The contract will not require RSL to use Targeted Allocation Money. The source added that Onuoha is expected to compete for minutes with first-choice center backs Justen Glad and Marcelo Silva, both of whom are also under contract through at least next season. Silva is currently working his way back from an ankle injury that’s kept him out of RSL’s last five league matches.
Onuoha, who will turn 32 in November, most recently played for English Championship club Queens Park Rangers. He spent six-and-a-half seasons with QPR, making 210 appearances in Premier League and Championship action before he became a free agent at the end of the 2017-18 campaign. Prior to joining QPR in January 2012, Onuoha made 94 Premier League appearances in six seasons with Manchester City and played in 31 EPL games in one year at Sunderland.
RSL are currently in fourth in the Western Conference, four points behind second-place Sporting Kansas City and four points above seventh-place Vancouver for the final playoff spot. They’ll host Minnesota on Saturday.
