Orlando City SC fans, cast your mind back to late October where the Lions put in a quite shocking display at Philadelphia Union, going down 6-1 in our final game of a tiring and hugely disappointing season.
Fast forward four months and our loyal fanbase has been re-energised once again following the best off-season in all of MLS with 12 new players arriving and Senegalese international centre back Lamine Sané now on his way too.
Yesterday, Jordan Culver and Alicia DelGallo of ProSoccerUSA.com exclusively revealed that Orlando City SC are in the final stages of acquiring Lamine Sané from German Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen.
Alex Leitão the tease
With Lions CEO Alex Leitão tweeting his now trademark eyes (👀) emoji on Friday, the Orlando City SC Twittersphere started speculating just who our final winter addition would be.
I am thinking in Tweet an 👀 Monday morning…
— Alex Leitao (@alexleitao) February 16, 2018
Orlando City SC supporters had expected this to be trialist Chris Schuler who has spent the off-season in Florida with Jason Kreis knowing the 30-year-old American from their time together at Real Salt Lake.
But the impending addition of Lamine Sané really is the icing on the cake of a truly outstanding off-season from Alex Leitão, Niki Budalic and the rest of the Orlando City SC Front Office.
Who is Lamine Sané?
A giant at 6 ft 3 in, Lamine Sané‘s favoured position is at centre back but he can also play as a defensive midfielder.
Having made 188 club appearances for Ligue 1 side Bordeaux between 2009 and 2016, Lamine Sané has also won 25 senior international caps for Senegal and was part of the Lions of Teranga’s Africa Cup of Nations squads in 2012 and 2015.
Following the big name arrivals of Sacha Kljestan, Justin Meram and Oriol ‘Uri’ Rosell, the capture of Lamine Sané is another that is a cut above in terms of the quality we’re now adding to our first team roster compared with previous seasons.
Jonathan Spector’s partner
All winter long, Orlando City SC supporters have been marvelling at our attacking reinforcements but in the back of their mind praying that defensive additions were made too.
Signing Egyptian international centre back Amro Tarek on loan from Wadi Degla at the start of February, both he and José Aja now represent the depth options to first choices Jonathan Spector and Lamine Sané.
When you sign a player from Europe and especially the Bundesliga, this calibre of player should be starting in MLS and when you put it all together, Orlando City SC‘s strongest eleven looks both well balanced and hugely competitive.
Strongest 2018 Orlando City SC XI
To truly appreciate Orlando City SC‘s new-found squad depth, this proposed first eleven excludes the following players.
Amro Tarek, Donny Toia, R. J. Allen, PC, Will Johnson, Dillon Powers, Richie Laryea, Cristian Higuita, Tony Rocha, Pierre da Silva, Cam Lindley, Jose Villarreal, Chris Mueller and Stéfano Pinho.