KYLE CALLAN-MCFADDEN arrived early on day one to make an impression at Orlando City Soccer Club.
As things turned out, the impression instead was made on the Ramelton man.
After five years at Norwich City, where he won an FA Youth Cup and made his bow for the first team at Carrow Road, the Republic of Ireland Under-21 international headed Stateside.
Alongside Harrison Heath, with whom he had been team-mates at Norwich, Callan-McFadden headed for Orlando.
It was a big move for Callan-McFadden and his girlfriend, Ella Greensitt, a native of Norwich.
Callan-McFadden didn’t know quite what to expect when he wandered up to the Orlando City Stadium to report for duty.
He took a seat in the dressing room and jolted upright as he surveyed the surroundings.
“The first day I came here, I was in early – good impressions and all of that – and I turned to my right hand side and it was like: ‘Jesus, look who it is!’,” he remembers now.
Kaká has been capped 92 times for Brazil, winning the World Cup in 2002, while he won the Champions League and Serie A title with Milan as well as a La Liga crown with Real Madrid.
The young Callan-McFadden had watched Kaká from his Ramelton home dreaming one day of emulating the then €65 million man.
[adrotate group=”80″]“We became friends,” the 21-year-old Callan-McFadden laughs now.
“He’s very laid back and he’s really good with youngsters. If you have a bad day, he’ll pull you aside and help you through it.
“He’d tell you about his own bad experiences and explain how you have to battle through the bad days.
“At the start, it was a bit surreal. I was scared to give the ball away. But he’s so encouraging, he pushes you along. He really made life easy for young players. He’s a quality role model.”
[adrotate group=”88″]Callan-McFadden is readying himself to bid farewell to Kaká and to Orlando.
Adrian Heath, Harrison’s father, had been manager of Orlando City until the summer. Callan-McFadden, however, doesn’t foresee a future there under new boss Jason Kreis and will return to England for Christmas before flying into Ireland in late December.
He played 16 times for Orlando City B this year, but the American dream is over and the most likely destination now for the centre-back appears to be the League of Ireland .
“I have offers on the table, a couple of them from the League of Ireland, but I’m not too sure what the plan is exactly,” he says.
“I wouldn’t mind the League of Ireland. A lot of young lads have come back to Ireland after being away and got back over to League One or the Championship.
[adrotate group=”53″]“Look at Sean Maguire at Cork City. I played with him at underage level with Ireland. He was at West Ham, but came back and he’s the top goalscorer in Ireland now, but will probably get a move across again.
“Adrian Heath was part of the reason I signed here, but he has left the club. He said to bide my time for a year or two and progress to the first team.
“The new manager has come in and he didn’t see me in his plans for the first team.”
Orlando City wasn’t short on stellar names, with the likes of Júlio Baptista and Antonio Nocerino the others Callan-McFadden classed as team-mates in the baking Florida sunshine.
But his time is almost up and the Ramelton man wants to make a fresh start.
“When I went to America, I sort of took myself out of the shop window,” he says.
“After all, I was playing in the B team in America so there weren’t too many people watching those games. In Ireland, you’re only 40 minutes away.
[adrotate group=”46″]“You can’t complain about the lifestyle, but obviously the football is very different. It took a while to adapt to it. There is a lot of traveling involved.
“The heat is mental to get used to and I’m kind of looking forward to getting back into an environment I’m used to again.
“I don’t regret coming here.
“Training with Kaka everyday, that’s got to improve you. It was a great experienced. I got the chance to progress, but it just wasn’t right for me.”
Norwich snapped him up in July 2011 when Callan-McFadden impressed while playing in the Clydesdale Bank International Tournament in Guernsey.
He was named as the FAI Under 16 Player of the Year award in February 2012 and appears to have enough self-confidence to make a go of wherever next he calls home.
[adrotate group=”59″]“I’m thankful that teams back there are wanting my services,” he says.
“Sometimes you think it would be easy just to give up. I know plenty of fellas who played with me in the Ireland teams and when it didn’t work out for them they just packed it in.
“I did five years at Norwich and a year here in Orlando so I’m not going to pull the pin now and have nothing to show for me. Some would be tempted to chuck it in, but I just want to get going again.
“I want to push on now from this place. I’m 21 and I need to be playing regularly. I don’t want to be sitting on the bench all the time.”
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