Yesterday, Orlando City SC officially unveiled Júnior Urso as their latest winter signing but Oscar Pareja‘s Lions are still on the recruitment drive for 2020.
As stated by the player himself in an interview tweeted by @ToqueSports yesterday, Colombian winger Alex Castro is keen on moving to Orlando City SC this off-season.
¡DESEA IRSE✈️! El atacante Alex Castro habló luego de la derrota del Cali 2-1 ante Santa Fe y manifestó el deseo de que se concrete su llegada al Orlando City de la MLS🇺🇸 para salir del cuadro ‘azucarero’. #TorneoESPN pic.twitter.com/XrQius7Rv1
— Toque Sports (@ToqueSports) January 14, 2020
Less than 24 hours after Alex Castro’s interview was published online, it’s now been deleted perhaps revealing there could be something to this rumour.
With Orlando City SC yet to reinforce the wide positions so far this off-season, Oscar Pareja‘s side are in the market for a new winger.
While Tesho Akindele and Jordan Bender could do a job out wide, Chris Mueller, Nani and Robinho represent City’s only three out-and-out wingers on the roster.
But who exactly is Alex Castro, a player who has been on the lips of every Orlando City SC supporter over the past 24 hours?
Who is Alex Castro?
Alex Castro is a 25-year-old left winger currently on Deportivo Cali’s roster in his Colombian homeland.
One of the country’s most successful sides and the former club of ex-Lions Cristian Higuita and Carlos Rivas, Castro returned to Los Verdiblancos‘ first team this year.
This followed a positive loan spell at Deportes Tolima in 2019 where Alex Castro scored eleven goals and registered nine assists in all competitions for the Ibagué-based side.
Contributing a great deal from out wide, his form on loan catapulted him back into the plans of head coach Alfredo Arias at Deportivo Cali this season.
Standing at just 5 ft 7 in and left footed, Alex Castro’s second chance at Cali could be short lived however.
After a poor team showing in Deportivo Cali’s first game of 2020, a 2-1 loss to Santa Fe, Alex Castro went on record in claiming he wants to join Orlando City SC – the interview we spoke about at the top of this blog.
With a En24 News article carrying the quotes, Alex Castro said: “I want to go to Orlando City, in the MLS, Cali knows it, the professor Oscar Pareja knows me and I want to travel soon, I’m going to talk to managers today, my wish is to leave.
Pretty defiant stuff, right?
The article also stated there is “talk that Cali made him [Castro] an offer to renew and that he would have raised his salary considerably to stay in the club.”
However, Alex Castro’s mind already appears to be made up.
Is he Paul Tenorio’s mystery Colombian?
Back in December amidst Orlando City SC‘s now failed pursuit of Germán Cano, journalist Paul Tenorio claimed the Lions were working on a deal to acquire a Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) signing.
It’s a different Colombian than the one you have all been tweeting about
— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) December 19, 2019
Going as far as tweeting “It’s a different Colombian than the one you have all been tweeting about” in reference to Cano, could Alex Castro have been the mystery name all along?
With Orlando City SC recruiting Cristian Higuita and Carlos Rivas from Deportivo Cali in the past, there does seem a lot of weight to Alex Castro potentially joining Oscar Pareja‘s squad for 2020.
For now, I guess we’ll have to wait and see!