Orlando City

2025 Orlando City Season In Review: Eduard Atuesta

The Colombian was a capable replacement for Wilder Cartagena but did not improve the midfield defense.

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6 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

Orlando City acquired Eduard Atuesta via transfer on Feb. 10, 2025 from Palmeiras in Brazil’s Serie A. He signed a contract through the end of the 2025 season with a club option for 2026. Terms of the contract were not released, and as of this writing, Orlando City has not yet announced if the club will pick up that club option.

Let’s take a look back at the midfielder’s debut season with the Lions.

Statistical Breakdown

Orlando City had not been in the market for a central midfielder, but Wilder Cartagena’s season-ending injury required the Lions to find a replacement to partner with César Araújo in the middle of the field. Enter Atuesta, the former LAFC and Palmeiras player, who joined the club and stepped right into the starting lineup as a center midfielder. He played in three of the four competitions Orlando participated in during the 2025 season, missing the U.S. Open Cup but appearing in the regular season, the MLS playoffs, and Leagues Cup.

In MLS regular-season play, Atuesta appeared in 28 of Orlando’s 34 matches, starting 25 and playing a total of 2,271 minutes. Unlike in any of his previous MLS seasons, he did not score any goals, but he contributed seven assists. He attempted 28 shots and put seven on target. Atuesta completed 88% (remember this percentage) of his passes and was second on the team with 57 key passes. On the defensive side, he compiled 39 tackles, 22 interceptions, 31 clearances, and six blocks. He committed a team-high 52 fouls (16 more than the next highest player) and suffered 42, the second most on the team. He received six yellow cards but did not receive a red card.

Atuesta started the Eastern Conference wild card game alongside Araújo in the center of the midfield, going the full 90 minutes. He did not take any shots but matched his regular-season average by completing 88% of his passes with one key pass. He added two tackles and one interception on defense, and committed two fouls (earning a yellow card for one) while suffering none.

The Colombian missed two of the group stage games but played in the other four matches during Leagues Cup, starting all four of the games in which he played and playing 327 minutes. He did not score a goal or contribute an assist, and he took one shot during regulation play but did not put it on target. Atuesta had an opportunity to convert a penalty kick attempt in the game against Pumas that went to a penalty shootout, but he was unable to score. Stop me if you have heard this before, but he completed 88% of his passes, with four of them being key passes, and on defense he was highly involved, contributing seven tackles, eight interceptions, two clearances, and two blocks. He both committed and suffered eight fouls in the competition and received three yellow cards.

Best Game

While he was the Man of the Match four times in our player grades, I think Atuesta’s best game was one when he did not receive that honor. The Lions defeated St. Louis City 4-2 and Atuesta was involved in all four goals, providing the primary assist on three of them. Two of his assists were to Marco Pašalić and the other was to Ramiro Enrique, and it was the pass to Enrique that was one of my favorite passes of the entire season. Atuesta took advantage of a poorly played pass by St. Louis and combined an interception and an assist into one play, hitting a perfectly weighted no-look pass with the outside of his right foot to put Ramiro Enrique in alone on goal. Enrique made no mistake to put Orlando City up 3-0.

The Colombian created a season-high seven shots for his teammates against St. Louis and was outstanding all over the field as Orlando City earned three points on the road in a City SC vs. City SC derby.

2025 Final Grade

The Mane Land awarded Atuesta a composite rating of 6.5 out of 10 for his 2025 season, his sixth season in Major League Soccer but first with Orlando City. There were times when the Colombian’s play was reminiscent of that of another South American who pulled the offensive strings in Orlando, Mauricio Pereyra, but Atuesta struggled with consistency, and really fell off toward the end of the season. He failed to deliver a goal contribution after the New England match on July 19, which piled the pressure on the attacking group to carry the offense during the final three months of the season. Atuesta often showed flashes of immense skill, especially on the offensive end of the field, but his on-again, off-again overall performance left a bit to be desired in his attempt to replace Cartagena in the central midfield, where he was not a destroyer like the Peruvian or Araújo.

2026 Outlook

Atuesta’s deal includes a 2026 club option that may be picked up by the club or triggered due to hitting certain performance thresholds during 2025 — or it could be declined. All signs point to Araújo departing, and with Cartagena out of contract like Araújo, Joran Gerbet out with an ACL injury for at least part of the 2026 season, and Colin Guske still finding his footing at the senior level, it seems likely that the Lions will bring back Atuesta in order to have some consistency year over year in the middle of the field. Kyle Smith and Dagur Dan Thórhallsson played in the middle as well, but neither of them are the true central midfielder that Atuesta is.

If Atuesta comes back, he would slot in as a starter in the central midfield, playing as the more attacking member of the center midfield duo (the No. 8) that Óscar Pareja likes to deploy in his starting lineup. I think that the club will trigger his option and bring him back for 2026, if only to keep some consistency in the middle of the field. At $600,000 base salary and $725,000 in total compensation, the Colombian is expensive for someone who did not deliver many goal contributions and was not a defensive destroyer either, and if he is once again inconsistent during the first part of 2026, the club may look to move him in the summer transfer window and give his minutes to some younger players.

Previous Season in Review Articles (Date Posted)

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