Junior David Loera has traded in his red and white for the purple and gold of Orlando City SC as the midfielder rejoins his former club.
The Spanish-born midfielder came up through the Orlando Academy and after three successful seasons at NC State, the club has signed him to a Homegrown contract, the sixth such player in the club’s history.
“We are thrilled to sign David to a multi-year Homegrown contract,” said Orlando City EVP of Soccer Operations Luiz Muzzi in a club statement. “It is imperative for us to continue to grow the talent here in Central Florida and to work toward creating a pathway from our Development Academy to the First Team and David is an example of just that. He possesses great vision and control on the ball and we are very excited about his addition to our roster.”
Loera made 57 appearances, all starts, scoring nine goals and grabbing 15 assists across his Wolfpack career. The midfielder is a brilliant player on the ball and made a lot of magic in his time at NC State, such as his stunning solo-effort against UNC-Chapel Hill in 2018 which was the lone goal in the Wolfpack’s 1-0 win over the then-No. 1 ranked team in the country.
The midfielder is joining a number of different former NC State men’s soccer players who have made the jump to the pro level including NCFC’s Nazmi Albadawi and Caleb Duvernay, and Celtic’s Manny Perez who played on loan at NCFC this season.
With Orlando finishing second-to-last in the eastern conference last season, Loera has an opportunity to make an instant impact. If the ability he showed at NC State is anything to go by, he will have a wonderful professional career.
