47 days after the club record $14 million sale of Facundo Torres to Palmeiras, Orlando City SC have today announced the signing of 24-year-old Croatian international Marco Pašalić, adding some much-needed quality to our right wing position.
Joining the Lions as a Designated Player (our sixteenth in club history), Pašalić arrives from HNK Rijeka for a fee reportedly worth €5 million plus add-ons. Having signed a three-year contract through 2027, with a club option in 2028, Pašalić becomes our fourth 2024/25 off-season arrival after Colin Guske, Nicolás Rodríguez, and Carlos Mercado.
From Croatia to The City Beautiful 🦁
We have acquired winger Marco Pašalić as a Designated Player from HNK Rijeka of Croatia’s Supersport HNL.
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 5, 2025
"My left foot is my 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒏" pic.twitter.com/rzNXlTfYZS
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 5, 2025
⚽🔥 Paša, hvala ti na sjajnim driblinzima, prekrasnim golovima i nevjerojatnoj energiji na terenu! 💪🔵⚪#ZajednosmoRijeka pic.twitter.com/iZM4CJCXlW
— NK Rijeka (@NKRijeka) February 5, 2025
>> CLICK HERE TO VIEW MARCO PAŠALIĆ’S PLAYER PROFILE <<
Who is Marco Pašalić?
Check out this blog we wrote recently for our full lowdown on Marco Pašalić, his playing style, and his career so far.
Here’s how Orlando City SC’s 2025 roster is looking with Pašalić included.
How Marco Pašalić’s Orlando City SC move unfolded
- Jan. 21 – Orlando City SC in advanced talks to sign Croatia int’l winger Marco Pasalic from HNK Rijeka. – Tom Bogert
- Jan. 24 –
- 13:48 – Orlando City SC back in advanced negotiations to sign Alejandro Zendejas from Club América. – Venê Casagrande
- 13:53 – Orlando City SC now focusing on other targets with Marco Pašalić still undecided about his future. – Tom Bogert
- Jan. 30 – Pašalić to Orlando City SC deal not dead with reports suggesting it may still be alive. – Tom Bogert
- Jan. 31 –
- Feb. 4 – Orlando City SC have completed their deal to sign Croatia international winger Marco Pasalic from HNK Rijeka. – Tom Bogert
- Feb. 5 🏁 – Orlando City SC officially announce the signing of Marco Pašalić through 2027, with a club option in 2028. – Orlando City SC
Introductory words
Executive Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Luiz Muzzi said: “This is an exciting signing for us and we’re happy to have Marco join us here in Orlando.
On his own move, Marco Pašalić said: “I think it was an easy option for me to decide on.
“I want to come here to take the next step here in Orlando and come here to show what I can do.
Our new DP on site 📍 pic.twitter.com/m6a8IQGnSu
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 6, 2025
Welcome to Orlando, Marco!
On behalf of Orlando City UK, we’d like to take this moment to welcome Marco Pašalić to Central Florida.
Interestingly, Pašalić is the first-ever Croatian to play for the Lions, both in USL and Major League Soccer.
It has also been confirmed that Pašalić will wear squad number #87 for Orlando City SC.
He last wore number #87 for HNK Rijeka – a number yet to be worn by any Lion so far in MLS.
You can follow Marco Pašalić on his own personal Instagram account too.
🚨✍🏻 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙎𝙄𝙂𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂 ✍🏻🚨
Welcome to @OrlandoCitySC, Marco Pašalić. 🦁
⭐️ Designated Player
⚽️ RW / LW
🗓 14 September 2000 (24)
🇭🇷 Croatia
⬆️ 5 ft 10 in
⬅️ Left Footed
👕 Jersey 8️⃣7️⃣𝙋𝙇𝘼𝙔𝙀𝙍 𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙁𝙄𝙇𝙀 ⚽️: https://t.co/d9UBXouzqN#OCTwitter #OrlandoCity #MLSUK pic.twitter.com/t5LGiN7HbK
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) February 5, 2025
Orlando City SC supporters’ view
Orlando City UK gathered the best tweets following Marco Pašalić’s announcement as an Orlando City SC player.
🇭🇷🦁 𝗟𝗘𝗧’𝗦 𝗚𝗢 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗢! 🦁🇭🇷
Our 16th DP in @MLS history, Marco Pašalić is our first-ever Croatian & our new Facu Torres replacement. 🤝
Quick, technically gifted & strong, Croatian players often have a never-say-die spirit. Welcome! 👍🏽#OCTwitter #OrlandoCity #MLSUK pic.twitter.com/rA05DqphjI
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) February 5, 2025
🟣🤝🏻 Marco Pasalić has signed in as new Orlando City player from Rijeka to replace Facundo Torres.
Here’s Pasalic with Orlando technical director Ricardo Moreira. 👕🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xzq0BhlFNA
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 5, 2025
Orlando City have officially signed Croatia int'l winger Marco Pasalic https://t.co/5Lr0QjksIG pic.twitter.com/jWKCU808m2
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) February 5, 2025
Making it official ✍️ pic.twitter.com/4B9QdiKAvm
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 5, 2025
@OrlandoCitySC pic.twitter.com/IbgbpoSDFd
— Ricardo Moreira (@9ricardomoreira) February 5, 2025
Stocking up for someone special 🇭🇷
See y’all at 11 a.m. ET 👀 pic.twitter.com/7snJkrb704
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 5, 2025
#Croatia international Marco Pašalić joins @MLS side @OrlandoCitySC from @NKRijeka – we wish him a lot of success in the new shirt! 🤞🇭🇷🇺🇸#Family #Vatreni❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/smNZLJ2Bq4
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) February 6, 2025
🇨🇴 7️⃣7️⃣ on the left. 8️⃣7️⃣ on the right. 🇭🇷
𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲.#OrlandoCityUK 🦁🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/54hFfiy7bh
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) February 5, 2025
Clubs making moves!!!#vamosorlando pic.twitter.com/GpSNBdzlSE
— In 90 Minutes (@in90minutespod) January 31, 2025
💜 🦁 https://t.co/vIRS1SCf7n pic.twitter.com/CBYmtQQoT1
— John Rawlins (@JohnRawlinsOCSC) January 31, 2025
Marco Pasalic is the new DP winger for Orlando City
What are your thoughts on the signing?
— 🏆 Orlando Lions Den Podcast (@OrlandoLionsDen) January 31, 2025
Okay, Cool now can get a Wilder replacement though PLEASE. https://t.co/57QO5lFtXp
— SayWhatNah? (@CleonONE) January 31, 2025
Orlando City are finalizing a deal to sign Croatia int’l winger Marco Pasalic per @tombogert
Fee will be around $5m + add-ons, per @FabrizioRomano
OC had a DP spot open w/the departure of Facu Torres
How do you feel about our new DP winger? #VAMOSORLANDO #ORLANDOCITY pic.twitter.com/8jrNcwcIGj
— 🏆 Orlando Lions Den Podcast (@OrlandoLionsDen) January 31, 2025
There it is https://t.co/ZLshFCHIFu
— spence_beatriceOCSC (@FloridaisPurple) January 31, 2025
Nothing against him, he’s a really really good player, but I don’t see the vision. FO replaced Facu positionally, but where do the 20+ Goal Contributions he took to Brazil come from? Biggest problem we had last season was not scoring enough goals. We’ve still not addressed that.
— WMTPS (@RLGK13) January 31, 2025
I don’t understand you have LAG , Dejon the right winger in double digit goals, Evander, maybe they didn’t want his position I don’t know, and LAFC had Oliveira , an Uruguayan that they were selling. All these players that know the MLS. We can not afford a strike out #3
— Gnocchi 🇮🇹🇺🇸🇬🇧 (@mtbh12) January 31, 2025
I think part of it also is, you have to convince the player to WANT to come to play in Orlando.
Let’s be real, LA, Miami, NY, Seattle, hell even ATL are all places that players WANT to go to, and we have an uphill battle against that competition.
— Daniel Cluley 🧢💜🦁💙🌞 (@DanielCluley) February 1, 2025
Downgrade from Facu.
Honestly, we needed to use that DP spot on a center mid.
Severely lacking in midfield depth at all positions.
We have always needed a CAM since Kaka. Needed a stud TAM or U22 8, and now severely need a starting 6 with Wilder likely out for the season.
— Daniel Cluley 🧢💜🦁💙🌞 (@DanielCluley) January 31, 2025
Really curious how his selfie game is.
Hopeful for the best, but he has big shoes to fill
— mike. (@mikeaspillane) January 31, 2025
Welp, I hope he works out, but we’ve got the DPs we’ve got. Just seems somehow meh as a show of ambition compared to [/gestures generally around the league]. But now it’s a game of wait and see. https://t.co/jqJ7RASHIr
— ManeLandMichael (@ManeLandMichael) January 31, 2025
Scoring in his first game
— Chris (@dcFaddy) February 1, 2025
We could have paid Galaxy $4m for Jovelic, but at least we have a pulse now. https://t.co/6C6MEbqo5W
— WMTPS (@RLGK13) January 31, 2025
Not to sure about him being a dp. He doesn’t have great numbers in the Croatian league. It’s time Orlando city gets a top dp that performs good every game
— landin (@LandinOber) January 31, 2025
So what does Facu Torres vs Marco Pasalic look like?
FBref has limited Croatian league stats and not much on next level analytics.
Goals and Assists? Facu wins even if you take out PK’s.Pasalic does shoot a lot tho, More shots in less minutes.#VamosOrlando #OrlandoCity pic.twitter.com/uLRrRzg8iE
— mike. (@mikeaspillane) January 31, 2025
Movement on the #OrlandoCity front, finally… pic.twitter.com/LV5dMnowl0
— The English Lion (@TheEnglishLion1) January 31, 2025
Money isn’t everything. This is a young player, who has been at Borussia Dortmund and has recent international experience.
— The English Lion (@TheEnglishLion1) February 1, 2025
So, our DPs are set. One plays 20 minutes a match. One IMO plays the 10 in a way that is not synergistic with Papi’s system. The last is a wildcard, replacing our highest scoring player. Papi’s system is 100% dependent on the dbl pivot. A duo that relies on trust / time together pic.twitter.com/23HIkVZXks
— Jimmy D (@jimmy_slc) February 1, 2025
Big signing. Hopefully he doesn’t flop like some of our DP’s in the pasthttps://t.co/is7Zza0hed
— Tony (@Thony_0812) February 4, 2025
…
Support Orlando City UK
Passionate about what we do, Orlando City UK content will always be free. The most important thing for us is sharing our love of Orlando City SC with you all and donations are by no means expected. However, if you enjoy our content, a token towards the regular maintenance of Orlando City UK is hugely appreciated!
