As speculated yesterday, the loan move to take Nedum Onouha to Sunderland was confirmed this evening via the Black Cats' official website (despite only making a ripple on the City site) with manager Steve Bruce heaping praise on the defender:
"Nedum is a modern-day defender. He's big, quick and powerful - a really good defender who despite his age has already played over 100 games.
"He has all the attributes a modern defender needs."
"Nedum is someone I've tracked for a long time so it's great to get the deal done to bring him here," he said. "He can play anywhere across the back line too so it's great to have added that flexibility and some strong competition for places."
Despite Sunderland being heavily linked with Onouha, they have bolstered their defensive ranks recently and added John Mensah (also on loan) earlier today and with them already having the likes of Anton Ferdinand and Titus Bramble on board, Onouha could once again find himself in a fight for a spot.It is perhaps surprising that it is only a loan move, not a permanent one given his transfer fee and wages should not be prohibitive for prospective clubs but the suggestion is that there were no takers for him on a permanent deal.
The frustration for Onouha must have been obvious in that despite being a player of some quality, not only has injury blighted his career since he made his debut in 2004 but also a succession of managers have yet to be convinced he is anything more than a squad player.
Looking at his City career, his only prolonged spell of action was the second-half of Mark Hughes's first season in 2007/08 when he was very consistent but rewarded with Hughes spending close to £40 million on Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott.
Perhaps a temporary move does offer the hope that getting regular starts over the course of a season could finally ignite a career that is very much unfulfilled to date, but the reality surely is that Nedum Onouha has played his last game for the club.