What started out as a failure to take full advantage of a valuable club asset has turned out better than expected. Orlando City wasn’t able to re-sign winger Chris Mueller or secure a transfer deal to move him before losing its leverage. As a result, Mueller left on a free transfer to Hibernian FC at the end of last season — after being held in Orlando despite his wishes to move on and join his new team as soon as possible.
That didn’t work out for anyone involved. While the club was perfectly within its rights to enforce its existing contract with Mueller rather than letting him go, having an unhappy player in the ranks generally doesn’t work well.