Dwyer joins Orlando City in record $1.6M deal

Dom Dwyer is heading back to Florida.

Sporting Kansas City announced Tuesday the trade of 26-year-old Dwyer to Orlando City in exchange for a league-record $1.6 million in allocation money, broken down into an initial payment of $400,000 in General Allocation Money, $500,000 in Targeted Allocation Money, and $700,000 in future allocation funds in performance-related bonuses.

"Our group has worked hard to find potential additions to the club and we are thrilled to finalize this deal and add an important piece to the roster in Dom," Orlando City CEO Alex Leitao said in a club-issued statement.

"Dom is a fantastic player who recently gave us a glimpse of what he is capable of with the U.S. Men's National Team and will keep doing so with the club and at the MLS All-Star game next week."

Indeed, the freshly-minted U.S. international turned heads during his first call-up to Bruce Arena's side, scoring on his debut in a friendly against Ghana and again in the Stars and Stripes' first Gold Cup match against Panama.

Dwyer also has 67 goals to his name with Sporting KC since joining the club in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. He spent the 2013 season on loan with Orlando, but before the club made the jump up to MLS. At the time, Orlando served as a USL affiliate to Sporting KC.

"Dom has been a great player on the field and a tremendous ambassador off of it for this organization," Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes said. "We thank him for that and wish him nothing but the best."

Dwyer has long been the object of Orlando's affection, and during its inaugural 2015 season, the club and then-head coach Adrian Heath were fined for tampering after publicly expressing interest in the forward.

"There’s no secret that Dom wants to be here," Heath said, at the time, as quoted by the Orlando Sentinel. "We've tried to get him here. We’ve done everything we can. Unfortunately, we can’t do it yet. But we will keep trying.

Though Heath is no longer at the helm of the Lions, head coach Jason Kreis did finally get his man, while Sporting KC received a league-record sum of allocation money in exchange. The previous record was held by Heath's expansion Minnesota United, who acquired Kevin Molino out of Orlando for $650,000 in allocation funds.

Those funds have now been used, in part, to bring Dwyer back under the Florida sun.