Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Exclusive - Honest Conversation Series:Shane O'Neill

(Via Zimbio.com)


MLS Transfers: Let's start with your opportunity at Sheffield Wednesday. How did that opportunity come about?

O'Neill: Through my agent really. I knew I wanted to go to Europe this offseason, I didn't plan on going back to England initially, I wanted to check out somewhere else (in Europe) but my agent said a good opportunity came up at Wednesday and Boro (Middlesbrough F.C.)

I went over to Wednesday and a couple days after I arrived we had a friendly with the Under 21's and it happened to be against Boro so it was like, "If you do well against them, they'll bring you up." I did well and Boro brought me up and I was there for 8 days. Both places were really good, very nice and both had a very good set up.

MLS Transfers: How did Wednesday and Boro compare to the MLS level you've gotten accustom too over the past several years?

O'Neill: You can tell the two clubs had different philosophies, different ambitions. With Wednesday there was a lot of grit, heart and fight everyday in training. Wednesday is more of a grind it out team. Standard wise it was good, it was a very honest standard.

When you go up to Boro, that's a team that really wants to get to the Prem within the next year. I think they're second in the Championship so you know they're in a good spot. You can tell the quality is high and the manager knows what he's doing. You can spot that Boro are very organized, and the quality was very high at training. Overall it was a really nice experience because it was bordering on a Premier League level.

MLS Transfers: There's been a couple rumors over the past couple of months of possible opportunities for you overseas. Have you and your agent looked into that?

O'Neill: You look into every opportunity honestly. It's funny because sometimes I'll know more about a rumor by looking at your twitter page than I know myself. (laughs) I did well at Boro and Wednesday and I'm waiting to see if anything happens with that but it's a tough spot to be in when you have two years left in your contract. I'm doing well with the Rapids right now so it's tough when clubs don't have a lot of money over there in the Championship. Going into the offseason I was thinking, "Well let's try out a place like Belgium" or something like that.

MLS Transfers: Have you talked to Klinnsman at all about your USMNT future?

O'Neill: I went to January camp last year but since then, not a whole lot. He was at a U-23 camp I was at but that's about it.

MLS Transfers: I wanted to see if you had any talks with him about you possibly going overseas.

O'Neill: I would like to talk to him if I get the chance to obviously. It would be interesting to see what his opinion would be.

MLS Transfers: We can end with this: Rapids fans want to know, will you be back in 2015?

O'Neill: Anything is possible in soccer but this moment in time, I'm contracted with the Rapids. I'm very happy with them so I expect to be back. 







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