One of Orlando City’s primary offseason objectives was to sign two top-level center backs. It took a bit longer than hoped, but call it mission accomplished.
The Lions officially signed veteran defender Lamine Sané on Tuesday, bringing a happy conclusion to what Jason Kreis called a “difficult, difficult process”.
“Really, really happy with the acquisition and hopeful that it can mean big things for us,” Kreis said Tuesday after Sané’s first training session with the team.
Sané’s addition brings the center back corps to four, with Jonathan Spector, José Aja and Amro Tarek already fighting for starting jobs. At 6-foot-4, the 30-year-old Sané is officially the tallest guy on the team and brings with him significant experience at the highest levels of European football.
Sané, whose full name is pronounced Lah-meen Sah-NEH, made almost 300 appearances over nine seasons at Bordeaux in the French Ligue 1 and Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga. He’s a force in the air with his size and his technical ability makes him a great fit for Kreis’ system.
“He brings a tremendous amount of experience, as well as some tools we maybe don’t have in this group,” Kreis said. “I think with the other acquisition we’ve already made, and with the potential for one more, we feel that the central defender position on our team should be a strength going forward.”
Tarek, the other acquisition, is a naturally left-sided defender who also has experience in the European top-flight. He communicates well and has looked more comfortable with every training session since joining the team two weeks ago. And now with Spector, Tarek and Sané, City has three very well-traveled center backs, and another in Aja that is eager to validate all the praise he’s received from the coaches for his offseason work.
But more than just getting Sané integrated into the squad is getting him settled in his new home. The difficulty of moving to a new country is only compounded when you have to do it alone, and that couldn’t be further from City’s philosophy.
“We’ve scheduled dinners, we try to take guys out, let them know the areas to live for families, for single guys,” said Will Johnson, who barely over a year ago was a new face in Orlando as well. “We’ve just been more informed of getting to know guys better, getting to know each other’s families. I think it’s been a challenge, but it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been beneficial to our group.”
All aboard!
With several new faces joining City so late in preseason, it’s fair to wonder whether trying to integrate them has put the team behind schedule.
Jason Kreis isn’t worried.
“We’re very, very comfortable with the track we’re on,” he said Tuesday after Lamine Sané’s first training session with the team.
Midfielder Uri Rosell is in town after completing an arduous visa process and has been working with the trainers. Sané, of course, has been with the team a couple days. Justin Meram and Amro Tarek have had a bit over two weeks of training and each looks well adjusted.
“Of course, we have some new players that we need to transition and integrate,” Kreis said. “But from my point of view, we’ve got a good enough team to have a good start to the season and improve as we go.”
