Orlando City Dismiss Speculation of Kaka’s Managerial Appointment

Orlando City CEO Alex Leitao has confirmed that Brazilian midfielder Kaka is not a candidate for the role of the manager at the club. Jason Kreis’ time at the club ultimately came to an end after he was fired by the team. The Orlando City outfit are in the middle of a six-game losing run. Immediately after the dismissal of Jason Kreis, speculation began about the arrival of Kaka into the managerial setup. Regarded as one of the best Brazilian midfielders in recent decades, Kaka played at major league soccer for a couple of seasons before announcing his retirement back in December.

He has played four clubs like AC Milan and Real Madrid while also becoming the last player outside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or award. MLS is no stranger to having former greats as their managers.

Patrick Vieira is one of the most recent examples of a successful legend-turned manager and he was in charge at New York City. Orlando scheduled a press conference just before the match against Montreal Impact and it was expected to be the announcement regarding the new manager. However, Leitao claims that it would be not the case since the contractual terms were agreed between both parties. Assistant Bobby Murphy has been placed as the interim coach in charge of the team.

"The club's doors are always open for [Kaka]. 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. As much as we understand that fans are very anxious, that we are very anxious and to give the fans as name as fast as possible, it's very, very important to us to do it right,” said Leitao.