Serie A soccer team AC Milan is seeking compensation for their newly signed Oguchi Onyewu.  Onyewu suffered a patellar tendon rupture during the US National Team’s match versus Costa Rica on October 14, 2009.  He’s expected to miss 3-4 months.

Onyewu signed a 3 year contract with AC Milan in July 2009 after previously playing with Standard de Liege.  Because his previous contract expired and he was not moved during a transfer window, there was no transfer required between Standard Liege and AC Milan.  Traditionally, the receiving team would have to pay a transfer fee to the original team when moving a player per UEFA rules.  Onyewu’s previous transfer fee was reportedly $4 million between Marseille and Standard de Liege.  You can see the top 10 soccer transfer fees here.

It’s not surprising that AC Milan would like to get compensation for their newly recruited player since the injury occurred while playing for the US National Team.  You see reports like this and you can understand why Brian Cashman and Mark Cuban are reluctant to loan their players to the World Baseball Classic or the Olympics, respectively.  Onyewu’s loss could spell disaster for the remainder of AC Milan’s season.  I hope David Beckham can pick up the slack.