Not surprisingly,
Team negotiating one more year with its captain
the Lions want to keep Kaká in Orlando.
One of the biggest questions entering Orlando City’s offseason is whether $7-million man Kaká will return for 2018.
Orlando City has made the team captain and former FIFA Ballon d’Or winner an offer for next season, according to CEO Alex Leitão.
“Yeah, he talked to me and expressed his desire to play another year,” Leitão told the Orlando Sentinel Thursday. “We gave him an offer and now he’s with his family ... I think he’s thinking about the offer we gave him and we’re just waiting for a response. So, we’re in negotiations.”
Leitão chuckled a little at the word negotiations because, to him, Kaká is a friend of 16 years and the negotiations are more like conversations.
“So, more about, ‘Hey man, this is it, you have to understand. OK, let me think about it and get back to you.’ This is how we do things,” Leitão said. “At the end of the day, it has to be good for him and for the club to stay. If it’s not going to be good for one of the parties, it’s not going to happen and we’ll
both understand. It’s a friendship, and a guy that I respect a lot. So, I’ll always be cheering for him and wishing him the best. Again, he has to look for his interests and I have to look for the interests of the club. Hopefully, both interests are aligned. That would be great.”
Details of the offer were not disclosed and when asked about a timeline for Kaká’s response, Leitão said he’d prefer to keep that internal.
Kaká said many times he wants to stay in Orlando but that he would wait until closer to the end of the season to make a decision. It is likely any new contract would be significantly smaller than his current league-leading $7.167 million salary.
There also have been rumors of him returning to hometown team São Paulo to finish his career or retiring altogether.
The Brazilian superstar brought instant recognition and relevancy to Orlando City when it joined Major League Soccer in 2017.
On the pitch, he’s drawn criticism for multiple injuries, despite leading the team in assists each year and finishing in the top three for goals.
He started and played in 28 of 34 games in 2015, scoring nine goals and seven assists. Last year, he started 23 of 24 appearances for nine goals and 10 assists, and this season he has 17 starts in 22 appearances, six goals and five assists with two regular-season games left.
Kreis to return
Any time a professional sports team falls short of goals or suffers through a run of disappointing results, a coach’s job could be on the line.
So when Orlando City went 21 games with two wins between May and September, fans questioned head coach Jason Kreis’ future with the club.
If the Lions again miss the playoffs, how likely is it that Kreis is Orlando City’s coach next season?
“100 percent,” club CEO Alex Leitão said.
He went on to say he and Kreis will sit down with majority owner Flávio Augusto da Silva and general manager Niki Budalic in the offseason to discuss the plan for next year and how they will change things to reach their objectives.
About a month ago, right after Orlando City lost a critical game at home to Vancouver, Kreis said he continued to feel support from ownership and reiterated that when he signed on as coach midway through 2016, it was with an understanding that this was a long-term project.
“I have a long-term contract here,” Kreis said at the time. “I think I certainly have been doing my best to remind myself that it is about the long term because
“I’m an impatient guy. … But I still believe in our project, I still believe in what we’re doing and I still believe in the long-term vision of what we’re doing, and as far as I know ownership feels the same.”
The team’s struggles were not restricted to the pitch this season. Various players also had run-ins with law enforcement — Cyle Larin’s DUI charge, Will Johnson’s domestic battery arrest and most recently Giles Barnes and Donny Toia being trespassed from Epcot.
How will Leitão and the rest of the front office and technical staff fix those issues?
“Look, of course it’s a more complex answer, but to make it simple: It’s my understanding that the coaching staff and ownership know that this is a very special place, a very special club,” Leitão said.
“We made investments, I mean we built a $185 million stadium, we have the highest-paid athlete … so for the players, they must deserve to be there — and that’s on the field and off the field. We need leaders.”