Zlatan to Orlando City. Think about it. It could happen. It might happen. It needs to happen.
Reportedly, the club that currently employs Kaka and made a run at Chicharito Hernandez this summer is setting its sights higher (literally) and trying to persuade one of the best (and tallest) footballers in the world to play his club soccer just down the road from Disney World.
According to Italian website Tutto Mercado Web, Orlando City have made overtures to Zlatan Ibrahimovic regarding a move next summer. We have to say that we are totally in favor of this. Watching Kaka and Zlatan play together in America would be a blessing, and Zlatan's outspokenness and tendency to do weird stuff would fit right in, especially in Florida.
Zlatan is seemingly made for the American sports community. He does amazing things on the field and silly things off it. He's cocky, soundbite-friendly and always seems to be involved in stories made for the always-on Twitter news cycle. He's endlessly entertaining and a little crazy, but in a fun way, not in a committing-crimes way.
Not everyone is necessarily as excited as we are about the potential Zlatan to Orlando City move.
There are those who say MLS doesn't need more big-name European superstars to come to America when they can no longer play in Europe, get paid lots of money and retire after a few years. Rather, these people would have MLS teams focus on youth development to improve the quality of competition in MLS.
Perhaps these people are right. Youth soccer development in the U.S. is troublingly bad, and the buy-aging-superstars-and-hope-they-still-have-something-left model may not be sustainable in the long run.
On the other hand, Zlatan.
(H/T MLS)
Contact THe18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
