Transfer Rumor: Fiorentina Targeting Orlando City Midfielder Amobi Okugo

Serie A side Fiorentina is targeting three American players for a transfer, including Orlando City defensive midfielder Amobi Okugo, according to an online report from Italian site calciomercato.com. It’s no secret that Okugo has aspirations of playing European soccer, a fact that made his move to Orlando surprising to many Philadelphia Union fans, who expected him to jump the pond for his next stop.

Although Adrian Heath would no doubt like to hold on to his No. 6, Fiorentina would be a nice landing spot for Okugo. The Italian side is currently fifth in Serie A on 55 points, five points behind fourth-place Napoli and just a point ahead of Sampdoria. Juventus, Roma and Napoli make up the top three.

At least Amobi wouldn’t have to change uniform colors. Fiorentina’s kit is also purple. In this mlssoccer.com story from October, Okugo talked about not just wanting to play in Europe, but finding the right situation.

“Some guys, they’re so focused on going to Europe they don’t look at all the aspects,” Okugo said. “You don’t want to just go to go. You want to go to a situation that you feel is right.”

It’s possible that Fiorentina might provide a situation that feels right to Okugo. If clubs from top European leagues come calling, there is usually little resistance offered by MLS. We’ll monitor this story to see if there are further developments.