Fiorentina, Palermo Enter The Race For Onyewu

According to press reports from Italy and Belgium, two Italian Serie A clubs are interested in acquiring American central defender Oguchi Onyewu. Fiorentina and Palermo now join Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Fulham, Besiktas, and Fenerbahce for the 6'4" player who is available on a free transfer from Standard Liege in July.

Personally, I'd love to see him go to Fiorentina, a club which always plays with a good attacking style and appears on the verge of regaining a potentcy not seen since the Batistuta era.

The Viola had been aiming to sign Barcelona's Mexican defender Rafa Marquez but since he signed a new deal with the Spanish champions on Thursday, Onyewu has emerged as an option. Their other option is Napoli central defender Fabiano Santacroce - a player also targetted by the deep-pocketed Juventus. This entire scenario also indicates that Juve could end up taking a look at Onyewu if Napoli (a club normally reluctant to sell key talent) decides to keep Santacroce.

The Gooch connection with Palermo looks less likely to result in a a serious bid since the club just made an offer for Sao Paolo central defender Andre Dias and a deal appears to be in the making.

Onyewu has been drawing ever more attention for his dominant play in Belgium's Jupiler League and strong performances at the Confederations Cup, in particular for his heroic defensive efforts alongside Jay DeMerit in the USA's 2-0 win over European champions Spain.

If Gooch can turn in another such performance tomorrow in the final against Brazil, expect the list of interested clubs to grow and don't be surprised to see a few Champion's League trophy contenders on the list.