Kaka hopes to remain at Orlando City next season

Kaka has revealed his desire to remain at Orlando City next season.

The 35-year-old's current deal is up at the end of the season, and the Lions are yet to decide whether to extend his contract. The Brazilian, who is currently the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer, has struggled with regular injuries during the current campaign, and this has seen him miss seven games for the MLS club.

Speaking after a Lions' training session, Kaka expressed his intention to remain at Orlando, although he has previously received interest from the MX league in Mexico, he said: "Yes, that’s the principal idea. The first idea is to continue here, continue with Orlando, and I will continue thinking this year about what we can do."

Orlando City have not had the best of seasons in Major League Soccer, but Kaka is still optimistic that the club can reach the playoffs by winning the majority of their seven remaining matches. Taking example of the 5-1 run that closed out 2015, he added: "We had good experiences the first year, great victories even though we didn’t make the playoffs. This shows it is possible.

It was our first year and we did that … now in our third year, we have made some changes, we have leaders, we have more experience. We absolutely can do another series of winning games and we are going to do that."

Lions manager Jason Kreis is said to have had a long chat with the club's players as well as the backroom staff in order to sort out a plan through which they could revive their playoff hopes.

Orlando are currently positioned 10th in the Eastern Conference with 31 points, five behind sixth-placed Atlanta United, who have three additional games to play. Orlando City have had their struggles scoring goals this season, and they have netted just 27 times in as many games.