Orlando City Shells Out to Acquire Sporting Kansas City's Dom Dwyer
Orlando City has spent big to lure new U.S. men's national team forward Dom Dwyer from Sporting Kansas City.
Sporting KC made official what the Kansas City Star and ESPNFC previously reported, that the clubs reached a deal for the star striker, whose contract runs through 2018. Dwyer, recently made a commissioner's pick for the MLS All-Star Game vs. Real Madrid, has scored 57 goals in 128 MLS games since 2012. He tallied a career-high 22 in 2014. According to the reports, the compensation for Dwyer would reach new heights when it comes to MLS standards.
Sporting KC could net up to $1.6 million in allocation money based on performance incentives. At the very least, the club will acquire $400,000 in general allocation money and $500,000 in targeted allocation in the trade.
The deal was completed in plenty of time before the Aug. 9 deadline, when the MLS transfer window closes.
Orlando is familiar territory for Dwyer, who starred on loan with Orlando City while it was in USL and helped the club win the then-third-division title with four goals in the title match. He also attended the nearby University of South Florida after transferring from a junior college following his arrival in the United States from England.
Dwyer became a U.S. citizen earlier this year, and he made his U.S. national team debut in a friendly vs. Ghana, scoring in the tune-up for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. He also scored in the tournament-opening match against Panama before returning to Sporting KC after the group stage.
Sporting Kansas City has had outside interest in Dwyer before, rebuffing advances from Greece's Olympiakos to hold onto him.
The trade gives Orlando City a massive boost in the attack, with Dwyer and Cyle Larin forming, on paper, one of the more dynamic attacking duos in the league.
