Nigerian-born Nedum Onuoha has revealed that he was asked by fellow team-mate at Manchester City Wayne Bridge to injure him to delete traces of an initial injury from snowboarding.
Onuoha, who retired last year from professional football, began his career at City, coming through the club’s academy.
He made 95 league appearances for the club, but fell out of favour under Italian manager Roberto Mancini and was one of a number of players forced to train with the youth team.
Among them was Bridge, who was also out the first team picture. And with opportunities to play few and far between, the former Chelsea defender turned his attentions to matters off the pitch – something that resulted in a bizarre request.
“It was a tough time at Mancini, when we were training at 3pm with Under-16s,” Onuoha told Tubes & Ange Golf Life channel on Youtube.
“Bridgey had a social calendar, whether it was potentially snowboarding, being down in Surrey even though we were playing in Manchester, and I think he may have hurt himself or whatever.
“He asked me the question and at that point we are in the trenches together, so I was like ‘yeah, no problem’, so I left a tiny bit on him.
“He escaped the situation because maybe he got hurt on the training pitch, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there.
“I think he hurt himself from doing something that maybe he shouldn’t have been doing. Maybe, perhaps, I’m not sure…
“At that point, we were the deadwood. We had nothing going for us and were looking out for each other
Asked for further details, the retired defender continued: “It was a tough situation to be in. Bridgey was certainly occupying himself with other things.
“I didn’t hurt him but at times the pitch can be a bit unstable. I went in to win the ball and unfortunately he may have rolled his ankle.
“It’s just one of those tough times in football I guess, overcoming adversity.”
Onuoha left City in January 2012, having spent the previous season on loan at Sunderland.
Onuoha joined QPR, where he played for six years before making the move to MLS in 2018, joining Real Salt Lake, where he finished his career.
