Luis Otávio would be the ideal successor to César Araújo | OneFootball

2025 may have ended in underwhelming fashion for Orlando City, but the excitement that the off-season brings is well and truly underway.

Veteran goalkeeper Pedro Gallese was the first to officially depart the club earlier this week, but with no less than 14 further players whose contracts may expire, it's likely that many others will follow in the Peruvian's wake. Reports have already suggested that, like Gallese, César Araújo will not renew.

With these individuals giving their all to Orlando over the years, such departures are tinged with sadness. Change is often tough to accept, but it brings with it opportunity for rebuild and rejuvenation. That means plenty of new faces, too.

The first of these rumoured arrivals is a big one. Yesterday, reports surfaced that Orlando have been actively scouting 18-year-old midfielder Luis Otávio, who has made waves in the Brazilian game during his rookie year for Série A side Internacional.

As with all transfer rumours, take this one with a pinch of salt. But if this is the calibre of player that Orlando intend to recruit this off-season, then I think we're allowed to get a little excited.

Orlando's new deep-lying midfielder?

Any seasoned Orlando supported will know by now that head coach Óscar Pareja essentially assembles his entire team around his trademark midfield double pivot.

This year that set-up may have been tweaked slightly following Wilder Cartagena's season-ending injury and the acquisition of Eduard Atuesta, who is more of a box-to-box midfielder, but Pareja still opted to complement Atuesta with a more defensively-minded midfielder, be that Araújo or Joran Gerbet.

With Araújo (and possibly Cartagena) on the way out, Gerbet injured, and Colin Guske still lacking plentiful first-team experience, it's almost certain that another deep-lying midfielder will be coming through the door.

Otávio fits the bill perfectly. Playing the majority of his minutes this season in that Araújo-like role, he specialises in regaining and retaining possession. If the more progressive Atuesta keeps his role into 2026, Otávio's ability to win and recycle the ball could be the perfect match.

Cut from the same cloth

If Araújo has made one thing clear throughout his four-year spell in Central Florida, it's that holding midfielders are often tasked at doing the team's dirty work. With 37 yellow cards, two red cards, and countless games missed through suspension, his discipline has been tested to the absolute maximum.

Although I'm calling on a much smaller sample size, it's apparent that Otávio is just as much a warrior is Araújo is. With three yellows and one red in 1,153 minutes for Internacional's senior and youth teams in 2025, he is more than willing to get stuck in.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. As we learned in Atlanta in May, Araújo often took his role too far and to the detriment of the team. But, if they are clever, combative midfielders are capable of winning games through their mentality and aggression alone - just consider Roy Keane, for instance.

With his 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup winners medal and multiple international call-ups for his native Uruguay, Araújo has achieved so much during his time in Orlando. Otávio is almost a like-for-like successor, but with the added benefit of being six years younger.

Otávio can trust Orlando

If there is anything to these rumours, Otávio can have full confidence in Orlando as the next stage of his career.

Particularly during the tenures of Ricardo Moreira and the now-departed Luiz Muzzi, Orlando have built an enviable reputation for identifying, recruiting, and developing bright young talent.

The most obvious of these is Facundo Torres, who was acquired from Peñarol in 2022 before being sold to Palmeiras for a tidy profit three years later. But you can add to that list the likes of Araújo, Daryl Dike, Ramiro Enrique, Alex Freeman, and even Duncan McGuire - who would've joined English Championship side Blackburn Rovers last year if not for a last-minute paperwork gaffe.

Major League Soccer may ultimately still be a stepping stone in the careers of most promising youngsters, but Orlando have the track record to show that not only will they offer you the platform to develop, but that they won't stand in your way when the time is right to move on.

With the club now having access to an open under-22 initiative spot to be utilised during the off-season, the Otávio transfer would make sense for all parties.