There’s no question, the stars aligned for Brek Shea’s move to Orlando City SC. And following his introduction in a Friday press conference in Orlando, all parties involved are hoping his homecoming to MLS from Stoke City facilitates a return to his previous dominance.
Orlando City president Phil Rawlins and head coach Adrian Heath have longtime ties to Stoke, as does Shea’s former agent, Paul McDonough, now OCSC’s general manager. Shea said those allegiances made his two-week training stint with the Lions this summer possible, leading to Friday’s announcement.
“I’ve known about Adrian for a long time,” Shea told reporters. “He helped me get to Stoke, I think. All those pieces came together, and I think it just helped that I was here in the summer and got to see how the city was and the team and the staff and everything that was going on, all the buzz. It definitely helped.”
The 24-year-old winger left MLS, where he played with FC Dallas for five seasons, to join Stoke in 2013. He enjoyed a breakout season in 2011, when his 11 goals and four assists caught the eye of US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
But a rough two years in England, marked by injury and unsuccessful loan stints, largely pushed him out of the international picture. He’s hoping his newest move changes all that.
“I think it was time obviously; I didn’t have the best few years,” he said. “ … I really enjoyed my training stint I had here this summer. I really liked how [Heath] did everything, the way he controlled the players, the way he trained and I just really enjoyed it. And I want to make that permanent.”
Heath said he envisions Shea playing somewhere on the left wing, whether at left back, midfield or further up the field and said his mixture of size (6-foot-4), athletic ability and talent has him very excited over what he can bring to the MLS expansion club. He said having Shea with the team over the summer was a tantalizing preview of the type of player he is, and they have worked since then to bring him over permanently.
“I don’t see any reason that in the next few years with us that he can’t force his way back into that national team and show everybody the exciting player that he did early in his career,” said Heath, who started his professional career with Stoke in the late 1970s.
- Get the latest Lions news at OrlandoCitySC.com
Rawlins, who was director and an owner of Stoke until he resigned early this year to focus on Orlando City, said Shea also brings another marquee name to go along with Brazilian star Kaka for the club’s first year in the league.
“Brek’s a very, very exciting talent,” Rawlins said. “You only have to go back a couple of years to when he lit the league up. He was in line to be the MVP of the league. He was scoring goals on a regular basis for Dallas, he was marauding down the left hand side, causing problems for defenses. I expect working with a coach as good as Adrian, we’re going to get him back to that level again.”
