Orlando City Acquires Trinidad & Tobago International Forward Tyrese Spicer from Toronto FC

Orlando City has made a move to bolster its attacking depth by utilizing the secondary transfer window to trade for forward Tyrese Spicer from Toronto FC. In exchange for the Trinidad & Tobago international, the Lions sent the Reds $225,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM) and $275,000 in 2026 GAM, with an additional $50,000 in GAM on the table if certain incentives are met. Toronto will also retain a sell-on percentage if Spicer leaves OCSC on a permanent transfer in the future. Contract details were not released. The forward will wear the no. 14 shirt for Orlando City.

“We’re excited to welcome Tyrese to Orlando. He’s a hardworking, left-footed talent from the Trinidad & Tobago national team who brings additional depth and energy to our side,” Orlando City SC General Manager & Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira said in a club press release. “His relentless work rate and ability to stretch the field will give us a much-needed boost and add another dimension to our attack moving forward.”

Its a trade that flew under the radar, with no rumblings or rumors being heard until Tom Bogert began to report it a few hours before the move was made official on Friday afternoon. Spicer’s arrival is expected to add some depth and competition at the winger position, as he primarily plays out on the left.

The first overall pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, Spicer made 42 appearances (21 starts) for Toronto across all competitions, contributing six goals and two assists in those games. In MLS matches, Spicer has tallied four goals and two assists while taking 31 shots and putting 14 on target. He’s passed at a 72% clip while recording 16 key passes and completing 17 crosses. This season, he’s appeared in 21 games (7 starts) and scored two goals across 860 minutes.

Funnily enough, one of Spicer’s league goals last year came against Orlando City at Inter&Co Stadium, in a game that the Lions lost 2-1.

At the international level, the 24-year-old winger has been capped six times by Trinidad & Tobago at the senior level, with his debut coming earlier this year in qualifying for the Concacaf Gold Cup.

Prior to going pro, Spicer played four seasons at Lipscomb University and recorded 29 goals and 18 assists in 57 games. He was named the 2023 ASUN player of the year after notching 14 goals and three assists in 16 games, and earned First Team All-American honors while finishing as a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy.

What It Means for Orlando City

On the surface, Spicer isn’t a player who’s going to come in and replace incumbent starting left winger Ivan Angulo. Despite some shaky performances from the Colombian, he’s been playing better of late, and two goals in 860 minutes this season doesn’t move the needle a great deal. Rather, the T&T international is likely being brought in to provide depth and competition for Angulo, as Orlando hasn’t had a lot of attacking firepower to call on from the bench lately given Duncan McGuire’s injury.

That being said, Spicer is young and in only his second season as a professional, and he certainly had some goal-scoring touch in college. He seems to be a player that’s raw but has plenty of potential, and former Toronto coach John Herdmann was very high on him. He had a tough time winning a regular place under new coach Robin Fraser, but as our friends at Waking the Red put it, he was “one of the few young players that the TFC Faithful were excited about.”

While we don’t know many details about his contract, we know that Toronto picked up his option for the 2025 season after last year ended, so it’s possible that option year is all his contract has on it. If that’s the case, this is a low-risk play by the Orlando front office that could have a high reward. Taking a chance on a guy who hasn’t overly impressed on a bad team and seeing if he can put it together on a better one is a solid strategy. He will at least provide some much-needed depth with experience as an option off the bench for an Orlando City team trying to make a push up the crowded Eastern Conference table.