Gladbach joins Marseille in pursuit of Onyewu

American defender Oguchi Onyewu will likely be moving away from Standard Liege in January. The Clemson University product is turning into a hot property in two of Europe's biggest leagues.

In Ligue 1, the French top division, Olympique Marseille has shown great interest in the American center back. The offer from Marseille is reportedly around $6.5 million with the added bonus of Argentine defender Renato Ceville heading to Liege.

While the offer from Marseille may be the to much for Liege to pass up with Onyewu slated to be out of contract at seasons end, another suitor has arisen.

According to Belgiumsoccer.be, Borussia Monchengladbach is now offering Liege close to $4 million for Onyewu. The German club, which already boasts American midfielder Michael Bradley, also made a play for RC Genk keeper Logan Bailly but the offer was considered to low. The German side is clearly looking to bolster its defense in an attempt to avoid a long relegation battle and Onyewu has become one of Borussia's winter targets.

Both Marseille and Monchengladbach have ties to Belgium. Marseille manager Eric Gerets is a former Belgian defender who appeared 318 times for Standard. As for Monchengladbach, it already has Filip Daems, a Belgian defender who began his career with K Lierse S.K.

The connections that each team has to the Belgian league could play into Onyewu's favor as each club will likely hold the Jupiler in higher regard than others normally would.

Onyewu has been rock-solid on the Standard back line and will try and continue his fine form Wednesday when Liege plays host to Sampdoria in UEFA Cup action.