The manner in which Cole Larin departed Orlando City SC was ugly, but his time wearing purple was not. Larin played at UConn, scoring 23 goals and being drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft. The striker became the first ever Canadian to go first overall. In his first season, and Orlando's first season, he was not much of a factor in the first few weeks, coming off the bench. That's why it is so incredible he managed to score 17 goals in his rookie year.
In early April, he scored his first goal in his first start. He flicked the ball for a very unique chested goal, which opened the scoring in Portland. He did not score again until May, when he headed home a cross with power against New England at the Citrus Bowl. Larin scored in the next two matches as well, one against DC United, and the other against LA Galaxy. He was up to 4 goals on the year, but the summer months were already looming. In a match against Colorado in June, he crashed the back post for a tap in on an incredible curled ball in. Larin's goals came in bunches the rest of the way. On July 26th, Larin scored once, he scored twice, before finishing the hat trick with an incredible strike into the top right. Orlando still lost 5-3. In the very next match, Cyle Larin scored a brace against Columbus, roofing one high in the net, then scored his fifth goal in two matches with a smooth left-footed finish.
After this incredible run of form, he did not score a goal for seven straight matches. He returned to scoring with a bang, scoring 6 times in the next 3 matches. On September 25th, he opened the scoring against the New York Red Bulls with a lovely flick header. It became a first half brace when he ran in behind and finished calmly. He scored his second hat trick of the season, after absolutely slamming his strike just under the crossbar at 61'. Larin held his run and scored with the left foot in the next match against Montreal. He continued to terrorize New York City FC in the following match, heading one into the bottom corner, then scoring the match-winner later on. Despite Orlando's late push, they fell short of a playoff spot in their inaugural season. Larin scored 17 goals, and if it was not obvious already, won the 2015 MLS Rookie of the Year Award.
In 2016, the Canadian just kept scoring. Down 2-0 to Real Salt Lake in the season opener, Cyle Larin deflected one on goal, and it cut the deficit in half in the 93rd minute of a +4 added. Just seconds after the kickoff, Larin notched his first career MLS assist setting up Adrian Winter for an equalizer after the allotted added time. In the second game of the year, he blasted one home against Chicago. In match number three, he once again beat NYCFC, scoring the lone goal. Three goals in the first three matches is not a bad start to a campaign. In May, he scored a perfect flick header with the back of his head on a Kaka free kick. In the same match against Montreal, Kaka slid one across for Larin to smash home for a brace. He scored again against Philadelphia in the next time out.
The guy just kept scoring. Again, it is simply too bad that his exit from the club was so ugly, because he was purely a star, more on that later. Larin always seemed to make the right run into the box to finish off a low cross, which he did against Toronto FC. Now wearing the No. 9 in 2016, Larin played the number nine role perfectly, as he rose up high to score a header in Vancouver. In the final match before the All-Star break, he equalized a match with another header against Columbus. Larin was selected for the 2016 MLS All-Star Team. He played just 13 minutes in the match against Arsenal. Straight out of the break, he returned to scoring, a left-footed shot versus New England. His final goal of the season was a consolation, a pretty curler at home. OCSC narrowly missed out on the postseason again. Larin scored 14 times.
In the very first game of 2017, in the very first match at Exploria Stadium, Larin opened the stadium with a header at the back post, against who else but NYCFC. He scored 3 goals in the first 2 matches, after scoring a brace against the Philadelphia Union. In the 91st minute of an LA Galaxy matchup at Exploria, he managed to guide a corner home to claim the three points. In the very next match, Larin returned to his favorite hobby, destroying NYCFC. After scoring a brace at Yankee Stadium, Larin scored his 8th and 9th goal against NYCFC, which has him behind only Bradley Wright-Phillips and Sebastian Giovinco in goals scored on NYCFC. Orlando City had a rough May, not winning a match until the final day of the month, when Larin scored a header whilst being hugged by the DC defender. He scored on Bill Hamid and DC United again later in the season. Larin scored his final Orlando MLS goal in style, heading one home against Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It was a 12 goal season for the forward. He later scored twice in a friendly match against Puerto Rico to raise money during Hurricane Maria.
This is the part where it gets ugly. After the 2017 season, it was clear that Cyle Larin was not going to stay in Orlando, no matter what. He wanted to go to Europe. The 22-year-old went to train with Turkish club Besiktas without permission from Orlando, who he was still under contract with. He refused to show up to Orlando practice as well. Orlando City CEO Alex Leitao spoke on Larin's departure, "For this situation to happen, you need to have one side, a player that doesn’t respect the club, doesn’t respect his contract, doesn’t care about the group, and this was exactly what we saw from Cyle." Yikes. In January, Orlando officially sold Larin to Besiktas.
Larin scored 31 goals for the Turkish side, and has since bounced around European clubs. He went to Belgium, including a brief stint with Club Brugge. He has since moved onto Spain, where he originally went on loan to Valladolid, scoring 8 goals with them, before permanently transferring to Mallorca in August of 2023. Now just 28 years of age, could it be possible that Larin returns to MLS at some point? While possible, his intention to play, and likely stay in Europe has been quite clear since his departure. Larin has scored 28 goals for Canada in 63 caps as well. For Orlando City, he notched 43 goals in just three seasons, averaging over 14 per year. Despite all the off the field drama with Cyle Larin and Orlando City, his performance on the field warrants a #53 ranking.
YEAR | CLUB | MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS |
2017 | ORL | 2,169 | 12 | 3 |
2016 | ORL | 2,455 | 14 | 3 |
2015 | ORL | 1,906 | 17 | 0 |
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