Orlando City fires General Manager Niki Budalic
In a statement issued earlier today, Orlando City SC announced that it has parted ways with General Manager of Soccer Operations Niki Budalic, effective immediately.
“I would like to thank Niki for these past three seasons with us and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” CEO Alex Leitão said. “We start a new year with many projects to look forward to, including strengthening our soccer operations department for the MLS and NWSL teams, opening a new training complex as well as kicking off the season with a revamped Academy structure and OCB sitting at the top of the player development pyramid in the USL League One. We welcome all 2019 has to offer with open arms and look forward to a great year with our staff, players and supporters.”
Budalic joined the Club in January 2016 as Assistant General Manager and was promoted to General Manager of Soccer Operations for both Orlando City in MLS and Orlando Pride in the NWSL in December 2016.
“I want to thank Alex and Majority Owner Flavio Augusto da Silva for the opportunity to work in this organization these past three years, and wish the Club all the best in the future,” Budalic added.
The timing of the announcement came as something of a surprise given the club are due to announce their changes in their roster shortly. Budalic, presumably, would have been instrumental in deciding who would stay and who would go and would have been working to secure new players to the team over the last few weeks.
A new appointee will now have to come in and make his assessment of the squad and decide where additions are required. Naturally, Jame O’Connor should have an important say in that matter and one interesting possibility is the return of Kaká in that capacity. It was something the Brazilian expressed an interest in when he left the club at the end of last season and it’s not beyond reason that we could see an appointment in the near future.
