An explanation has emerged over the line of issues and factors that accounted for the sudden exit of former Super Eagles’ vice-captain, Eddy Ogenyi Onazi from SonderjyskE of Denmark, as the club’s sports director, Hans Jørgen Haysen says all hope they had for the player failed to materialize.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that, although he did not expatiate on the plans and targets they hoped to achieve together with the erstwhile battling midfielder, Haysen admitted that Onazi had to move on once it was realized that he could no longer fit into the top-flight Scandinavian club’s aims and aspirations.
Consequently, SonderjyskE have now waved good-bye to Onazi, who previously played for SS Lazio of Italy as well as Trabzonspor and Denizlispor of Turkey, but he also failed to get a deal at Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo’s Italian Serie A club, Crotone before moving to Denmark, as the link fell through at the last moment.
The original agreement between SønderjyskE and player would have seen the midfielder remain at the club until at least the end of the current season and, though Haysen admitted that the player has to move on, he heaped praises on the star for his efforts during his short stay with the club, while also pointing out that that they wish him well in his next port of call.
Sadly, the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner is again on the move and in search of another club, after the Danish Superliga side cancelled his contract, which was originally meant to run till the summer of this year, but Haysen stressed that all hope held between the player and the club did not go according to plan.
The 28-year-old Onazi has not enjoyed enough playing time at the club he joined in October 2020 as a free agent and he made only two appearances in the league, and the former Eagles’ star, who played for Nigeria at the World Cup of 2014 in Brazil and 2018 in Russia, now leaves SønderjyskE after only three appearances, two of which were as a substitute in the Superliga.
Onazi joined the Danish outfit in October on a year’s contract with an option to extend the deal by two more years, but the injury-plagued Nigeria 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup silver medalist subsequently struggled for regular playing time and SonderjyskE decided to terminate their collaboration six months before the agreement expires.
He apparently failed in his efforts to regain match fitness after rupturing his Achilles tendon during his time with Trabzonspor, which forced him out of football action for more than a year and troubled him as well at Denizlispor during a six-month deal before signing for SonderjyskE, whose sports director has now revealed reasons behind the star’s unceremonious exit.
Haysen declared: “It didn’t turn out quite as he and we had hoped for. There is not a finger to put on Onazi’s efforts in SønderjyskE. He has been a professional to the tips of his toes and he has fitted in well with the group with his dedication.
“He has also scooped out his experience to the young players on the team. He came with a backlog from an injury, but he has been in almost all training sessions with us, and it also became a starting place in the Sydbank Cup and a few innings in the 3F Super League.
“However, it did not turn out quite as he and we had hoped, and he himself has expressed that he might fit better into another league, and he now has the opportunity to try it out. We thank him for his efforts in the light blue jersey and wish him all the best for the future.”
Onazi then went on to reveal in a chat with told AOIFootball.com: “I have terminated my contract with SønderjyskE, there was an agreement that in January I can take the option to leave and I feel the time is right to do so.”
