In his first season as Orlando City’s assistant general manager, Niki Budalic has spent much of his time thousands of miles away from the City Beautiful. With Phil Rawlins serving as the team’s acting general manager in the wake of Armando Carneiro’s departure, Budalic has been the boots on the ground, searching for talent, building international relationships, and evaluating potential players.
Budalic was kind enough to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule this week to talk to me about a variety of topics. And he was especially patient with me as technical difficulties ultimately forced this interview — which was supposed to be recorded for next week’s PawedCast — to become a conversation for this story instead.