Mental health is no joke. It’s especially compounded when you are not surrounded by the best group of people. There’s two ways to go…. up or further down the black hole. Hard to know from the outside, I just really hope someone - a trusting person - is willing to help Owen. Of course, Owen has to be receptive towards the help.
I also wonder if he just doesn't enjoy it that much. Silent quitting has reached professional sports it seems.
Well in a remote world a lot of us just simply ghost. Maybe he thought they were still doing at home fitness sessions
How do you mean? The club doesn't even know where in the world he is. He's been radio silent it would seem for some time now. I really want to know if the club has looked at flight manifests/what extent they've tried to find him vs cancelling the contract and washing their hands of him. It's a big, wide world with lots to do, perhaps he'll pop up somewhere interesting. Maybe we'll see him at the World Dog Show once his elite dog breeding program gets off the ground.
Apart from that being the right way to go about it - which it undoubtedly is - it's also the financially advantageous way. Anyone who remembers the Winston Bogarde fiasco knows that as long as he simply showed up at training and did the drills, Brugge would have been be obliged to continue paying him, in full, unless and until he agreed on a contract cancellation. By going AWOL for a second time, he's given Brugge carte blanche to terminate his contract for cause and without compensation. Given the transfer fee they paid for him, he could have been on upwards of 750k a year. With 50% of the balance of the contract being the convention, he could be walking away from a million euros or more.
Maybe that will motivate him to take good advice, and follow it. At his age nothing is over, but it may be a long, slow, attitude readjusting road back. He may be up for that, or maybe not.
Hopefully, but I'm struggling to remember a case as serious as this with any kind of a happy ending. The nearest I can come to it is Ravel Morrison - DC United are reported to be paying him $850k a season - but a) he was never this dysfunctional and b) he was a "one-for-one replacement for Paul Scholes" level of talent. That buys you a level of indulgence that OO won't get.
For what it is worth, Otasowie is still on the Club Brugge website. I imagine that he will be there until officially released by the club.
It seems unlikely that any MLS club would want to take the chance of putting a player with Otasowie's history on payroll. Maybe if he would accept a low salary, something on the order of $150k.
Maybe he is busy with his Burberry modeling gig. Hopefully something like that. He is still on Club Brugge website.
He was shopped around to various MLS teams last summers.... no interest (although I don't know the specifics in terms of loan/transfer, salary, fees, etc)
Why MLS? If he can't hack it in the Jupiler, where the overall level no higher, it's pretty unlikely that he'll be able to handle the States.
Where he ends up is important to his long term success as a person, not just as a player. I do hope that in the upcoming transfer window he is able to find a place that will help him all ways. That is if he has a desire to continue playing.
In this case, given his level of physical talent but possible maturity / mental health / level of dedication issues, whatever they are, I think a change of scenery / coaching may be just what he needs. But as you imply here, there's a decent chance that the same problems will follow him wherever he goes.
Watched him play a bit and while he's got the physical tools he's just so far behind with game awareness and technical issues that I'm not sure what to do with him even if any mental issues are resolved. I wouldn't be surprised if he changed positions to one that requires less tactical awareness at this point, even given his natural fit at CB.
Odd that we have not heard anything about Otasowie being released, etc. We are now 10 days into the transfer window. He still is on the team's roster on their webpage. I wonder if anyone has heard from him yet.
when you’re a professional footballer and a message like this is posted about you on the internet, it’s not good
Honestly, if Owen can get his head on straight (and I don’t think he can), what he should do is drop down to a very low level in England and just play for the sake of playing and to show that he likes to play. Play at a level where no one outside of locals and a handful of internet people care what he does. Go where there are no expectations. Do that for awhile and take it seriously. Then, if he does well, maybe he’ll get another shot. but, I think it’s just about over for him. You can’t go AWOL twice at a pro level as a young, unproven player and be taken seriously
https://www.voetbal24.be/news/84314...-vertrekken-na-komst-van-trainer-scott-parker One thing is already certain: Club Brugge will look completely different after the winter break. That of course has everything to do with the arrival of Scott Parker who will replace the dismissed Carl Hoefkens. The Englishman will shake up the dressing room and unpack a new game system. But in addition, the Blue-Black will let go at least five players. It is almost certain that Ruud Vormer will move to Zulte Waregem. But Het Nieuwsblad also knows that a solution is being sought for outcasts Owen Otasowie and Daniel Pérez. And there are also the two top talents, Noah Mbamba and Senne Lammens, who refuse to extend their contracts that expire in June --and will therefore leave during the winter break, so that Club Brugge can still collect a (small) transfer fee.
I just looked at my last post on this thread and noticed I am about to post the same thing. The transfer period is almost over and still no word on Otasowie. Brugge is not the same team that won the hearts of people during the group stages. They finally won their first match under Scott Parker last week. Maybe he is trying to work with/on Otasowie. I would have assumed a contract buyout/release would have been one of the first deals done during the window.