Orlando City announced on Thursday that it was extending the contracts Luiz Muzzi and Ricardo Moreira and adding to their titles.
The club also announced that both officials will be taking on new roles: Muzzi (in addition to EVP of soccer operations) will serve as the general manager while Moreira (in addition to assistant GM) becomes technical director, too.
The announcements have been months in the making. In July, the Wilf family became majority owners of Orlando City.
“It’s been discussed for maybe a couple of months now,” Muzzi told the Orlando Sentinel this week. “Since our contracts were to expire and, of course, when [new ownership] came in, they wanted to assess everything as normal, as they should, and then I’d say a couple of months after they got in, we started discussing an extension.”
Talks on extending the duo’s contracts were paused as the club prioritized the team’s needs, re-signing new players and re-tooling the Orlando Pride until it finally came back to extending Muzzi and Moreira.
Muzzi’s and Moreira’s contracts were due to expire at the end of the 2022 season, the Sentinel learned. It’s unclear, however, how long their new deals will last.
What changes?
With new titles for Muzzi and Moreira, nothing really changes.
“What comes with it is more than a title. It’s just the trust that Ricardo and I and everybody here got from new ownership, from the Wilf’s and that’s the most important thing that comes with it,” said Muzzi. “It’s just a message that we got as one of trust, and that they trust us. So far business has been really good working with the new ownership.”
Muzzi said ownership under the Wilf family has been very interactive, a different style than the relationship the club had under the previous owner, Flavio Augusto da Silva.
And the Wilf family is still learning to understand the tedious MLS roster rules that the league frequently updates. Their experience in professional sports, which includes owning the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, serves as a foundation to grasping the intricacies of MLS.
Moreira’s role as technical director, however, does come with more responsibility.
Moreira will be more active with Orlando City B, which will be competing this year in MLS Next Pro, Major League Soccer’s reserve league.
“Since now we start MLS Next Pro, he’s going to be more in charge of that team as well,” said Muzzi. “So it’s an addition … and he’s got so many things on his plate. But he does a great job with all that.”
Perhaps a sign that the Wilf family is serious about making a splash into the transfer market comes from the constant chatter about players they’re interested in.
Orlando City coach Oscar Pareja confirmed recently the club’s interest in Peñarol winger Facundo Torres for what would be a club-record transfer for an incoming player should the deal get done.
But even with Torres reportedly on Orlando’s radar along with the reported $10 million price tag, Muzzi said it’s a testament to the owners’ determination to bring the best talent to Orlando.
“From Day 1 they said, ‘Look, we want to get titles, we want to get trophies, we’re committed,'” Muzzi said.
Torres isn’t the only player Orlando is looking to sign.
“We got a lot of things going on on different fronts right now with different players,” Muzzi said. “Everything that is out there is just what’s out there because people like to talk and things that hadn’t happened. I can’t really comment, but we’re talking to a lot of different players and agents at this point, so hopefully we’re going to have things to announce soon.”
Incoming homegrowns
Muzzi confirmed the club is targeting one to two players from the club’s academy to sign homegrown contracts.
Venezuelan winger Moises Tablante, 20, who’s has been training with the first team for most of last year and played at one point with OCB in 2020, is a possibility.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the only thing holding back Tablante is the arrival of his green card which at the moment classifies him as an international player.
There’s also 17-year-old centerback Quembol Guadalupe. He’s with the U-20 Peruvian national team, but he also holds a United States passport thus doesn’t warrant taking an international slot with the MLS first team.
“He’s absolutely in our plans, so we’ll see what happens when he comes back,” said Muzzi of Guadalupe. “We started working with him last year, so he’s has a lot of potential.”
Gallese’s contract renewal
Orlando City starting goalkeeper Pedro Gallese is under contract, but discussions are underway to renew his deal, Muzzi confirmed.
“We’d like to have Pedro stay and be here for longer,” said Muzzi. “We’re in a good situation right now. He’s on contract and he’s doing a great job with Peru and Peru maybe will qualify for the World Cup. So we’d love to have Pedro stay here for longer, but it’s something that we’ve taken day by day. We’re discussing, [and] we’re in a good place right now.”
Gallese told Peruvian media earlier this month that talks for a new contract were underway.
“I’m conversing a lot with my club,” he said. “There are some things that need to be finalized, but I’ll see after the international break.”
