Orlando waives Matias Perez Garcia after contract negotiations fail

Orlando City announced Wednesday that the club has waived Matias Perez Garcia ahead of his contract's expiry on June 30, with the club citing a failure to reach a new agreement as the reason for the mid-season cut.

"We tried our best to reach an agreement with Matias but unfortunately we weren't able to," Lions general manager Niki Budalic said in a club-issued statement. "I want to thank Matias for his contributions to our club. He is a tremendous teammate and person. We wish him the best of luck moving forward."

The 32-year-old Argentine attacker posted a farewell message on Instagram earlier in the day which announced his departure, and the club confirmed the news a few hours later. Perez Garcia joined the Lions in 2016 in a trade with the San Jose Earthquakes, which saw midfielder Darwin Ceren go the other way.

"It's an extremely odd situation," head coach Jason Kreis said of Perez Garcia's contract, as quoted by the Orlando Sentinel. "It's the first time I've ever been in this situation where you have a player whose contract is up in the middle of the season, and it's been a personally frustrating experience for him because he's expressed his intent clearly that he wants to stay and we've been pretty, pretty far away from what he has said he's needed and what we have available to pay.

"Because of that difference, it's made the process a difficult one and a drawn-out one, and pretty crazy that we get to this point in our season and we still don't have clear resolution."