Chris Mueller is in his fourth season with Orlando City, and it will be his last one with the team.
Scottish Premiership club Hibernian announced Thursday that Mueller has signed a pre-contract and will join officially in January 2022. Orlando City stated on Wednesday that they had been in talks with Mueller over a new contract, but that the 24-year-old winger informed them of his decision to move abroad at the end of the 2021 MLS season.
“Chris was someone who was brought to our attention a number of months ago,” said Hibs head coach Jack Ross. “We worked long and hard to make this deal happen.
“Chris is an exciting signing and his recent performances with Orlando have been terrific. He has a skillset that we think is going to be really well suited to Scotland.”
Mueller will finish out the current campaign with the team that drafted him sixth overall in the 2018 MLS Draft. The U.S. Men’s National Team player has made a total of 96 regular-season appearances for Orlando City since then, starting 63 matches, scoring 20 goals, and delivering 22 assists.
This season, Mueller has started in seven of the 13 MLS games he has featured in. He has recorded two goals and four assists thus far.
Mueller will become the third American to play for Hibernian, joining past signings Emerson Hyndman and Jonathan Spector.