Official: RSL signs former Manchester City, QPR center back Nedum Onuoha

Real Salt Lake has finalized a contract with Nedum Onuoha, a 31-year-old Nigerian center back whose career in the English top flight included an eight-year stint at Manchester City.

In a club-issued press release, RSL general manager Craig Waibel said Onuoha is expected to contribute in the “stretch run.”

“Nedum will add tremendous experience and leadership to our group,” he said. “The expectation is that he will come over, regain full fitness and contribute as we enter the stretch run and into next year.”

According to the press release, Onuoha will wear the number 14 kit for the club.

Onuoha, who attended the Manchester City academy before the influx of insane money into the system by Sheikh Mansour in 2008, played for the club from 2004 to 2012, making 115 appearances.

He also played on loan with Sunderland during the 2010–11 season, making 32 appearances for the northern club. After that season, he signed with Queens Park Rangers, where he made 224 appearances from January 2012 to the end of last season.

Onuoha’s QPR tenure included two-and-a-half seasons in the English Premier League and four in the Championship.

In an interview on BBC Radio Manchester, Onuoha said he was “looking for something different” despite having offers to remain in the Championship.

“When I had offers on the table in England, it didn’t quite feel right,” he said. “For the age that my children were, and with a wife that was very supportive, I thought maybe it was time to go see something totally different.

“They were Championship clubs, yeah. I had a few discussions with maybe one manager in the Premiership, but it didn’t quite feel right. I just thought maybe this is the moment and the opportunity.”