After Orlando City parted ways with head coach Jason Kreis last week, several high profile names are believed to be in the mix to be his replacement. One of them is Kaka, retired Brazilian soccer star who played for Orlando City from 2014 to 2017. While City’s fans would probably be excited to see such a big name leading their team, that is highly unlikely to happen.
Orlando City CEO Alex Leitao recently spoke with ProSoccerUSA.com and decided to shut down the rumors that Kaka will be the team’s next coach.
“The club’s doors are always open for [Kaka],” – said Leitao. “The moment he decides what he wants to do, we’d love to give him the opportunity. He wants to study under someone. We didn’t talk about him accepting any kind of role with the club right now.”
Leitao also confirmed that Orlando City general manager Niki Budalic is having preliminary talks with the candidates and believes the team will have its coach until the end of the next week.
After an illustrious career in Europe, in which he played for Milan and Real Madrid, and won numerous club and individual honors, Kaka decided to come to MLS and join Orlando City in 2014. In his three seasons with Orlando City, Kaka was highly productive, playing in 75 games and scoring 24 goals, while also making All-Star team in each season. He decided to retire from soccer on 17 December 2017, despite having offers Sao Paulo and Milan. Kaka expressed his wish to stay in the world of soccer even after the retirement and is interested in working as a director.
