OneFootball
Blaise Bourgeois·1 January 2019
OneFootball
Blaise Bourgeois·1 January 2019
Being in Florida, where there the Brazilian population is booming, it’s not hard to attract big Brazilian talent.
Orlando City is no stranger to big-name Brazilian midfielders and, according to Brazilian journalist Gustavo Zupak, it appears the Lions are lining up a major move for Flamengo’s Diego.
Zupak states that Orlando have a three-year deal on the table for Diego, but the Lions refuse to pay his release clause to obtain the midfielder.
Diego’s career has taken him to some of the world’s biggest clubs, including stints at Santos, Porto, Werder Bremen, Juventus, Wolfsburg, Atlético Madrid, and Fenerbahçe.
Since arriving back in Brazil at Flamengo in 2016, the 33-year-old has been one of the Brasileirão’s best midfielders, netting 25 goals and adding 13 assists in 89 appearances with the Mengão.
In addition, Diego earned a whopping 34 caps for Brazil, scoring four goals, often coming on for former Orlando City midfielder Kaka.
Diego won the 2004 and 2007 Copa América titles with Brazil and was a superstar at Werder Bremen, scoring 54 goals and providing 42 assists in just 132 appearances from 2006 to 2009, winning a DFB Pokal title in 2008.
With Atlético, he scored the team’s third goal during their 3-0 win over Bilbao to win the 2012 Europa League final. He was also the top assist provider during the tournament.