By RYAN TOLMICH
Rumors of Brek Shea’s return to MLS have finally been made official.
Orlando City confirmed Friday that the club has acquired the 24-year-old winger from the Premier League’s Stoke City ahead of their debut 2015 season.
Shea’s return comes nearly two years after the former FC Dallas star made the move to England, where he featured three times for Stoke while also suiting up during loan spells with Barnsley and Birmingham City.
The winger becomes just the latest December acquisition for Orlando City, which added midfielder Amobi Okugo and defender Aurelien Colin earlier in the month via trade while also signing Honduran forward Bryan Rochez as a Designated Player.
—-
What do you think of Orlando City’s latest signing? How will Shea fit in with the rest of the squad? How will Shea and Orlando City fare in 2015?
Share your thoughts below.
What Shea does, he does well, he can run at people and beat them to the outside. What he does not do well, he mostly just doesn’t do. When his preferred option is not working he has seemed to have no plan B and he simply loses the ball. He has sometimes been touted as a defender, but he seems too inattentive to be relied upon as a back.
He is still young enough that those deficiencies can be corrected, and in truth I’ve seen so little of him in the last year, I can’t tell if the criticisms are still valid.
At least he will get a new set of coach’s eyes looking at him and probably some time in games.
I think it’s a great move for him. He can peobably start so he’ll get the valuable playing time he sorely needs, he’s not a DP so no one can whine about that and he gets (another) chance to proved he’s matured. Let’s see what he does before we crucify him or OC. The best thing that could happen is he earns his way back to the Nata and and we add some depth. Nothing wrong with that.
“Let’s see what he does before we crucify him”
Why?
Crucifixion takes a while and is a lot of work. An early start insures a better job of it.
This is SBI where crucifixion, premature or otherwise, is a time honored tradition and has many dutiful practitioners.
Haha. True dat.
Now he can sit on the bench in Orlando.
+1
He’s got to be a major head case. Great physical ability, but couldn’t crack the starting 11 in league Championship, usually couldn’t even make the bench, and got kicked out of Barnsley for bad behavior. Somewhat reminiscent of Eddie Johnson. Unfortunately you can’t teach smart, nor can you implant character.
He got kicked out of Barnsley for giving the bird to some fans who were heckling one of his teammates. It didn’t play well, but you can understand the sentiment.
AJA- the use of “smart” as a noun in that context is incorrect. “intelligence” would have sufficed; even “smarts” in a loose sense. ironic comment or a fitting one?…
Quozzel- to add, if I remember correctly, initially he heard heckling of his teammate and assumed it was the opposing teams fans; flicked the fans off and later realized it was his own team. He was quoted as saying he was surprised/disgusted that their own fans were cheering against them in that match, or something to that extent. So he wasn’t outright a bone head that was flicking off his fans.
Neither. “Smart” is an adjective, and not something that can be taught. It was not being used as a direct object. (This is a fairly common idiom: “‘smart” is something that just can’t be taught.”.)
So the allocation order resets at the end of the season? I thought it was the end of the year.
not a DP so good signing.
He killed my Sounders many times, so I hate him.
But I’m very happy he’s back in MLS. He was developing very nicely before he left. Fun to watch when he’s on. Joins a good organization it seems. Hope he can reach his potential and get back with the nats.
I can’t help but think that he is but another victim that listened to JK’s ill advice about leaving MLS and playing abroad. Not only has it not worked for him but it also ended his NAT career too. I hope others that are thinking about making a similar move take a look at how many hit and how many miss when they go over there
Actually, Klinsmann said he didn’t support Shea’s move, and wanted him to stay in MLS. In a couple years, if he kept his trajectory, I wouldn’t be surprised if Klinsmann advocated a European move, though. Klinsmann has said MLS is a good fit for some players.
not sure that’s totally accurate. Back in February 2013 it was a different idea about the move
“A fresh start in the Potteries – helping Stoke to solidify and build on their now perennial EPL status – is exactly what the USMNT, Jurgen Klinsmann and Shea ordered.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/feb/01/brek-shea-mls-stoke-city-premier-league
Klinsi was into the move originally but in seeing it evolve has come to admit the situation sucks for Brek
That is not what this article seems to say:
http://www.espnfc.com/story/1432172/jurgen-klinsmann-stoke-city-move-bad-for-brek-shea
ex post facto. that is from May, he transferred in January. By May my 6 year old daughter advised Brek that the Stoke move wasn’t working out for him too
beachbum,
You’re kidding right? By your reasoning all history written after the fact is irrelevant .
Since you did not bother to read the article, here’s what you missed:
“May 2, 2013
Klinsmann: Stoke move bad for Shea
Klinsmann was vocal at the time of the deal, suggesting Shea should remain in the US and is clearly frustrated by Shea being left on the sidelines by Stoke boss Tony Pulis. He feels the 23-year-old will struggle to add to his 15 international caps, unless he breaks through and becomes a Premier League regular.
“Players make their own decisions and they have to deal with the consequences of that and by ‘consequences’ I mean with the situation they are facing,” Klinsmann said.
“Brek Shea badly, badly wanted to go to Stoke City and now he’s not playing there, at all. He’s not even in the [matchday squad] at all and he has to deal with that. He never really discussed it with us. I discussed it with [MLS vice president] Todd Durbin, but he badly, badly wanted that move. It is now what it is. It’s not helping us if he’s not in their first 18.”
So who is next to come back to MLS? Adu ,Agudelo, Altidore?
A real who’s who.
The Milk Carton Allstars
It hurts to see Brek back in MLS and not with FC Dallas.
Brek Shea should play as a striker not a winger
He has a lot to prove – hopefully it works out. I am pretty skeptical though, I think we have seen his ceiling and it isn’t very high, but who knows. He lacks maturity, but I am sure he has learned a lot on/off the field after the last 2 years of not playing about as much soccer as I do.
“I think we have seen his ceiling and it isn’t very high”… I’m not to sure if I agree with this. When Brek was performing at his peak he looked really promising. If he would’ve kept up the form he was in, he would’ve been a great addition to the Yanks. To say that his ceiling isn’t very high is a bit of a stretch since when he was at his peak he was getting interest from a lot of top league decent clubs.
There is a big gap in terms of ‘having potential’ and effectively ‘performing’. Not to be too meta here, but you are essentially saying Breck could get back to his prior level, where his biggest upside wasn’t his actual performance, but what people projected out of him. Those projections have not panned out, and I think his cieling is that he is athletic and marginally technical, but does not see the field as well as a wide player needs to in order to play at the highest level.
He didn’t perform, he couldn’t make it abroad, and he hasn’t played well with the national team. I am not saying he is a bad player, but if you are building a franchise, I don’t think that he is DP material given what we have seen. I am not saying he won’t do well, I am saying signing this guy at 24 with the idea that he is going to vastly improve is probably not realistic. Holding your breath for that is like holding your breath for Jozy’s first touch to improve.
“but you are essentially saying Breck could get back to his prior level, where his biggest upside wasn’t his actual performance, but what people projected out of him”
I seem to remember him coming in 3rd in the MVP voting one year, no?
right, and that’s basically his career at this point . . . that he came in 3rd one year.
So he is not a DP signing then ?
Or do we not know that ?
I read somewhere that he wasn’t going to be a DP but would receive money for salary through the allocation or transfer fee. not quite sure, just read it in passing yesterday, details i could be wrong on.
Brad Friedel should have blocked this kid’s work permit a few years ago…
Ha…This got a chuckle out of me.
Orlando looks like a great team on paper!
Brek was fun to watch and he’s a good fit in MLS, welcome back I hope you do well.