Scouting Orlando City Target Braian Ojeda

In case you missed it earlier this week, the all-knowing Tom Bogert said that Orlando City has signed defensive midfielder Braian Ojeda from Real Salt Lake, sending a hefty sum of General Allocation Money the other way in the exchange.

While nothing is official as of this writing, this seems like a good time to do our homework and try to get a feel for the player who will reportedly be joining the Lions’ ranks soon. Let’s begin by looking at his statistics in the league from each of his four seasons with RSL.

Ojeda didn’t join RSL until August of 2022, which helps account for his low numbers compared to his final three years with the team. The last two seasons hint at some growth to the offensive side of his game, with a pair of goals in each year in addition to the impressive six assists in 2024. Seeing that number drop off in 2025 isn’t great, but keep in mind that RSL scored 65 goals (tied for third in the Western Conference) in 2024, while only putting up 38 in 2025. If the team as a whole is performing poorer, there’s a good chance that individual statistics will suffer too.

Aside from his truncated debut season, his passing accuracy has always been above 85%, with the high-water mark coming in that successful 2024 campaign, and he’s done a pretty good job with his disciplinary record for a guy who plays in the middle of all the action.

To get a better idea of how he profiles compared to a defensive midfielder we’re familiar with, let’s have a look at how he looks next to Cesar Araujo, the man on the roster that he’ll be replacing. To do that, we’ll be looking at their scouting reports on Fbref.com which I’ve got side by side below, with Araujo on the left and Ojeda on the right.

A few differences jump out immediately. While they average almost the same exact amount of non-penalty goals per 90 minutes (0.10 for Araujo and 0.09 for Ojeda), Ojeda averages both more shots and higher expected goals per 90. Ojeda’s assists per 90 meanwhile, are non-existent because Fbref doesn’t recognize secondary assists, and that’s exactly what his one 2025 assist was. If we factor in his one assist per 2,105 minutes played, it works out to .04 assists per 90, which doesn’t greatly change things, but I like to be comprehensive when I can (even if it means being forced to do math for you guys). He does average just under three shot-creating actions per game, which is almost 0.5 better than Araujo and a good number for a defensive midfielder.

The three passing statistics are all pretty comparable, but the next items to jump out are the progressive carries and successful take-ons statistics. Ojeda averages almost 0.5 more per 90 than Araujo in the first category, and over one more per 90 in the latter.

As far as defensive statistics are concerned, the biggest discrepancies come in interceptions, in which Ojeda is averaging almost one more per game than Araujo, and blocks, in which Araujo has the edge on Ojeda by a significant margin.

So what does all this mean? Simply put, Ojeda profiles as roughly what you would expect from a defensive midfielder. He passes the ball accurately; is a strong presence in the middle of the field, given that he averages a little over 1.5 tackles and interceptions a game; and is capable of both scoring goals and providing assists when the team around him is performing at a high level offensively. The biggest way in which he differs from Araujo is in an increased willingness to bring the ball forward, as demonstrated by his progressive carries and successful take-ons statistics.

It’ll be interesting to see how Ojeda fits into Orlando City’s midfield. If/when the signing becomes official, that gives the Lions a corps of him, Eduard Atuesta, Wilder Cartagena, and Luis Otavio in the center of the park. Cartagena was one of the top central midfielders in the league before he was injured, but we don’t know how he’ll look coming back from a serious injury. Atuesta is a known quantity that does just about everything at a high level, although he was less effective after Leagues Cup (which is true of just about everyone). Otavio is a young player that the front office clearly rates highly or the Lions wouldn’t have burned an MLS U22 Initiative slot on him, but we don’t know how he’ll adjust to a new country, new league, and new language, given that he’s only 18 years old. Then there’s Ojeda, who’s a proven quantity in the league and cost a pretty penny himself, costing more than $1 million magic GarberBucks to secure his services.

If I had to guess, Atuesta has the inside track to one of the defensive midfield places, assuming Oscar Pareja wants to stick to a 4-2-3-1. Cartagena and Ojeda will be duking it out to be deployed as the more defensive option next to him, while Otavio will be given time to develop, make substitute and rotational appearances, and push the guys ahead of him for playing time. In theory, it’s a signing that makes a lot of sense, given that Ojeda has already shown he can be a solid MLS starter and the amount of uncertainty surrounding the two guys not named Eduard Atuesta.

All we can do now is wait and see. Vamos Orlando!