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Report: Orlando City finalizing Shea transfer

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BrekSheaStokeCityWarmup1 (Getty)

By CAITLIN MURRAY

Brek Shea is in need of a move away from Stoke City, and it appears he has targeted a stateside return.

According to a report from the Orlando Sentinel, the American winger is on the cusp of a move to Major League Soccer to join expansion side Orlando City SC next year. The report, citing unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the transfer, said the move should be finalized in coming days.

Shea, 24, joined Stoke City last year on long-term contract worth $3.9 million, but he has seen little playing time. Shea has made three appearances for the Potters, and been sent on two separate loans that have not yielded as much playing time as he would like.

Orlando City and Stoke City have a loose partnership through Lions’ president Phil Rawlins, who was once a director of the English Premier League club. Shea spent several weeks training with Orlando City over the summer and coach Adrian Heath at the time hinted he was interested in what Shea had to offer.

“I can’t hide the fact that I’ve enjoyed working with him and seeing him close up,” Heath told MLSsoccer.com in June. “You can look at players from afar but you really only get to know what they’re like when you see them this close up.”

Shea spent his first five seasons as a professional in MLS with FC Dallas, amassing 78 starts with 19 goals and 14 assists from 2008-2012. He moved to Stoke City in January 2013, but never carved out a regular role for the club.

Orlando City will make their MLS debut next year and have filled their roster with some talented players, including Brazil’s Kaka, Amobi Okugo and Aurelien Collin.

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What do you think of Shea heading to Orlando City? Is this the right move for Shea to return to MLS? Is it a good signing for OCSC?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Orlando should go after some big South American soccer star or another Brazilian. I think robinho should be a good move since it’s their first season.

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  2. Shea needs a team with a tough coach and earn his playing time, and not earn DP money at all. In reality, MLS is a weird league, given that the DP rule was made for DP beckhams and no DP Sheas or DP dempseys or DP valeris.
    As time has past by since Beckham came, many MLS team have struggle to sign Beckham dps and they know that their DP is not a beckham signing but MLS rules make some “average player” that comes from Europe or South America a DP due to the rules of MLS and the amount of money the player getting paid.
    So my opinion is, Shea shouldn’t get DP money, the Salary cap needs to increase enough to be able to pay good money to the right player and not to an average player from outside the U.S.
    By doing that, MLS teams can really concentrate in getting DP beckhams from all over the world and not waste money due MLS rules.

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    • Actually Jurgen didn’t want Shea to go England. It seems to fly in the face of his usual comments but he was never big on the move.

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  4. To all of those doubting whether or not he deserves a DP deal, there have been much worse DP signings over the past few years. Shea is a proven MLS All Star caliber player with national team experience, sign him up Orlando. If they do, watch out Eastern Conference, the new guys down south might just push for MLS Cup in their first season. Kaka, Shea, Okugo, Collin, Hall, Molino, the list goes on

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  6. Really can’t grasp why anyone would take pleasure dancing on his grave. Shea has really done no worse than Altidore lately during his stint abroad, earning a big contract first and moving back home for playing time later. No reason he couldn’t start for the national team down the road after a run of form (unless some German-American is also up for his position).

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    • All good points. I mean Brad Davis went to a World Cup just a few months ago. No one is all that far out of the national team picture.

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    • +1 Great comment. Honestly, this seems like a very good move for both sides. If I’m an OCSC fan I’m fairly happy with how they are doing building this team so far. Some gambles yes, but some very nice upside.

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    • Most aren’t dancing on his grave…but his run of form is much worse than Jozy’s. Shea hasn’t seen minutes while on loan in the Championship. Jozy, at least sees minutes in the BPL…and did very very well in Holland.
      As for his chances with the national team…down the road…there is still a chance. But Johannsson, Green, Gyau, & Rubin are all ahead of him. He’s in the same boat as Wood, Morris, and Arriola IMO. They have a chance to make the squad….but they’ll need to make a real impression with the chances they’re given.

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    • 2 things to address:
      (1) people dancing on the grave – it’s something that some people, especially in American society, like to do; maybe it makes them feel good to see someone fail when they try something or maybe it is something to make them feel better for when emptiness in their lives.
      (2) comparing him to Jozy is disingenuous at best or willfully ignorant at worst. Jozy has accomplished a lot more than Shea has either with the USMNT or in Europe. Jozy is the 5th leading scorer in the history of USMNT and he is only 25. He was the 3rd leading scorer over a two year period in the Eredivisie (2011-2013) behind only Wilfred Bony and Dries Mertens. He scored at a higher clip (1 goal every 1.7 games) than Aron Jóhannsson (1 goal every two games), which many USMNT fans are clamoring for, at a slightly younger age. Jozy is not doing well now, but Shea and Jozy are not in the same category

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      • correction:
        maybe it makes them feel better to see someone else fail when they try something challenging or push themselves or maybe it has something to do with making themselves feel better for some degree of emptiness or failure in their lives.

      • 1. What society are you from that you can take except to Americans regarding their comments on sports blogs?

        2. Your comparison to Jozy is disingenuous at best or willfully ignorant at worst. Brek Shea didn’t play in the Dutch League, which historically lets in goals like a sieve. Michael Bradley used to pump them in from the center of midfield. Brek Shea plays outside midfield or winger, so comparing his goals per game against Altidore’s tallies as a target forward don’t matter at all. Of course, you could have avoided this fallacy by reading the word “lately” in my post and remembering during that great Altidore run of several clubs past, Shea was still chugging away in the MLS, earning his own foreign offer. Then you might acknowledge that Jozy has been a stinkbomb during the same timeframe, that he is likely now a league or two above his pay grade, and that only by way of a concerning lack of depth does his national team place seem assured. You are right that they are not in the same class – Shea now earns a commensurate wage on a team that has a use for him. Altidore can’t say the same.

      • (1) I am an American. Living here, I have seen that people seem to like or celebrate when someone famous falls. Almost as it it was jealousy. I really don’t know why you took exception with that point because I was agreeing with you critiquing people who were. figuratively dancing on Brek’s grave, which is too soon. If you fail to comprehend that…well that’s your issue

        (2) Lately is not an absolute term, it is an ambiguous description that could be last week, month, year or several years depending on context. All I did was assign a range. If you do not like the range, assign yours and I will work within those parameters. I used the last 3 years to show that Jozy has done more. I was not comparing goal scoring rates to Brek only to Aron and other forwards to show his relative success as a forward in Netherlands. Scoring in the Dutch league is easier, but everyone is playing in the open system, so it still says something when he was the 3rd leading scorer in a 2 year period in that league where the other 2 guys ended being the 5th leading scorer in the EPL (BONY) and the other guy (Dries Mertens) scored 11 goals in Napoli. Both guys only score 1 and 4 goals more over the same 2 year period in total.

        However, if you want to reduce to the time to the period that Brek has been abroad (since January 2013). It is not even close. Jozy has been doing poorly, but Brek is off the map. Brek doesn’t even make the bench at Stoke. He has been loaned out twice to teams at a lower level and doesn;t make the bench there either. Since Fall 2014 he has only 14 appearances in the Championship. He didn’t even dress for most games in the same period. He is still on 7 figures from Stoke, btw. Jozy has not played well but. still made 31 appearances in a year and half and dressed a lot more times at higher level (EPL). That shows he has done more than Brek. The coaches see enough of him to want him to dress and play. The coaches at a lower level see so little in Brek, they don’t even dress him.

        I have actually said on other threads that Jozy’s time at Sunderland has been horrible. I stated that his style does not fit their style of play. Brek can improve, but let’s not get carried away. He and Jozy are the same age (I believe Jozy is only 3/4 months older). They are both young.

  8. Hopefully this will be a nice piece of humble pie for Shea. He’s obviously not going to be the next “hope” for the Nats, but he’s proven to be effective when he’s on form.

    A Robbie Rogers style move to LB would be great

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    • Does he have the quicks for LB? He’s really effective driving, but backs need that change of direction or they get turned and fried and he looks like Big Bird when he tries to get his feet unstuck from underneath him.

      His physical attributes suggest a forward or a centerback but he’s looked lost up top, has shown zero ability to play with his back to goal, and he doesn’t make intelligent runs or seem to know how to set up and elude his defender, and he was pretty much a disaster when FC Dallas tried him as a CB due to lack of awareness and positional sense.

      He can be a game-changer off the bench as a left winger when you let him run at a tired defense, but aside from that he has never impressed me. Or rather, he has – negatively.

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      • he doesn’t have the quicks for LB. Shea has linear speed, yet doesn’t have any burst needed for change of direction. lots of taller players can be quick running straight at a defense but rarely do tall players have the change in direction to play LB/RB; this is why you generally see small players play there like yedlin, dani alves, etc. Shea is basically a second half sub at LW (for the USMNT, that is). he is fearless yet doesn’t have the soccer IQ to really be a NT starter. i wish he did cuz i like the kid and how he plays but he’s got to grow as a player before he can be a full time starter for the NT. yet, like Jozy, he’s only 24 and has a year or two to turn it around.

      • I’d add that if he hasn’t demonstrated the soccer IQ necessary to start as a winger, then he is even further from ready to play defense.

    • It may be tough to do anything else, considering his current salary at Stoke. Even if they don’t pay him a ton, he could end up being a DP because of the transfer fee, right?

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  12. A move back to MLS is about the only thing Shea can do to re-start his career.
    Not sure if anyone else would want him after his knuckle headed stunts.

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