Lions’ Dwyer deal sets league record
Orlando City acquires forward in record deal
Sporting KC trades Dom Dwyer to Orlando City for up to $1.6 million, which would be a Major League Soccer record.
Dom Dwyer is back. Sporting Kansas City traded the standout forward to Orlando City on Tuesday in exchange for up to $1.6 million in allocation money, an amount more than double Major League Soccer’s previous record.
The deal included $400,000 in general allocation money, $500,000 in targeted money and up to $700,000 more based on performance.
Dwyer was scheduled to fly to Orlando on Tuesday night and will be introduced at a news conference today. He is expected to play in the Lions’ match in Atlanta on Saturday, Orlando City CEO Alex Leitão told the Orlando Sentinel in an exclusive interview.
“When you spend that type of investment as a player, you expect he’s going to play,” Leitão said laughing. “The whole thing started when one day [general manager] Niki Budalic called me and said, ‘Hey, we may have a chance to bring Dwyer,’ ” Leitão said. “From the very first second we said, this is the man, we want him. Then we started a long, long, exhaustive negotiation that had tons of chapters, and finally we finished today.
“He’s an All-Star, he’s a top scorer, he already knows the league, he doesn’t need time to get
adapted — not with the city, not with the team, not with the league — so, for us it was a no-brainer.”
ESPN first reported on the negotiations last week. League sources told the Sentinel an agreement had been reached Tuesday afternoon, and the news broke minutes later on social media via the Kansas City Star. The club’s official announcement came shortly after.
Dwyer, 26, recently made his debut for the United States men’s national team and has strong ties to Central Florida.
During Orlando City’s first stint in the United Soccer League, its MLS affiliate was SKC, which loaned Dwyer to Orlando in 2013. He helped the Lions win a USL title that year, scoring 15 goals in 13 games and then another four goals in the final.
The signing is Orlando City’s first move in MLS’ summer transfer window, which opened July 10 and closes Aug. 9. The Lions needed a goal-scorer after struggling in that area for months. They’ve scored three goals in the last five games and standout striker Cyle Larin has been in and out of the roster due to suspension and national team duty.
Dwyer is in his final contract year and has a one-year option that Leitão said he expects the club will exercise as it begins negotiations on a new contract. His average guaranteed salary for 2017 is $668,750, based on the latest numbers released by the MLS Players Union in April.
“I can see Dom Dwyer staying here forever,” Leitão said.
The Lions have been after him for years. MLS fined the club and former coach Adrian Heath in 2015 for violating the league’s tampering policy after publicly expressing interest in Dwyer.
At the time, Heath said Orlando was Dwyer’s “spiritual home”
“He wants to come back,” Heath said. “We’d love to have him. But we’ll have to wait and see how long it takes before we can do it.” The waiting is over. Orlando City had a heap of allocation money on hand to work with after trading midfielder Kevin Molino to Minnesota, now coached by Heath, in January for a total of $650,000 — $450,000 in General Allocation Money and $200,000 in Targeted Allocation Money — which was one of the biggest deals in league history.
“I don’t say the Kevin Molino money, but it’s money we had available to pay,” Leitão said. “We did it in a way that will not jeopardize the future of the club, that’s for sure. But, it’s a big commitment, and it is commitment that we want this season.”
Likely a $1.6 million commitment. SKC coach Peter Vermes told media in Kansas City after the trade that he feels “very confident and comfortable” that Dwyer will achieve the $700,000 worth of incentives that are part of the deal.
Dwyer was born in England but played college soccer at the University of South Florida in 2011 before SKC selected him 16th overall in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. He’s led Sporting Kansas City in scoring the past three seasons and has five goals so far this year.
He became eligible to play for the U.S. when he got American citizenship earlier this year. He promptly was called up by national team coach Bruce Arena and scored a goal in his first appearance, a 2-1 friendly win over Ghana on July 1.
Dwyer is married to U.S. women’s national team forward Sydney Leroux, who also plays for FC Kansas City in the National Women’s Soccer League. Dwyer’s link to Orlando already has sparked talk on social media about whether the hometown Pride will pursue Leroux.
Leitão said Leroux never was mentioned in negotiations with Sporting Kansas City about Dwyer.
“I know that people have curiosity around this,” he said. “She’s a great player, but she’s playing for Kansas [City], we have to respect this. And we have good players on our roster as well. We were very, very focused on bringing Dom to the MLS [team] and I really didn’t have time or even interest in speaking about that.”