Orange County SC sign U.S. U-17 international Diego Lopez

Orange County SC announced on Tuesday they have signed forward Diego Lopez. The 17-year-old joins the club after most recently being a member of Atlanta United 2.

Lopez is a native of Chino, who joined Atlanta United’s academy and made one appearance for ATLUTD2, in 2018, in USL Championship play. He’s played regularly for the U-17 academy team, but his departure from that club was officially announced last week.

A U-17 U.S. international, Lopez is the third such player in the cohort to be on Orange County SC’s roster, joining goalkeeper Aaron Cervantes and last week’s signing Bryang Kayo. All three could potentially go to the U-17 World Cup in Brazil next month.

“Diego is a special player to me personally having worked with him for a few years when he was 11-12 years old. I couldn’t be happier to have the opportunity to work with him again! Diego is a big strong center forward who can score goals & hold the ball up. I believe he has all the raw attributes to play at the next level and the structure we have created will give him an excellent platform to develop and reach his full potential.” said OCSC head coach Braeden Cloutier in a team statement.

Lopez is eligible for Orange County’s next game, at Rio Grande Valley FC this weekend. Given the timing of the signing, the U-17 World Cup coming up, and Orange County SC absolutely flying at the moment, on a six-game winning streak, it’s unclear if he’ll see much playing time and if so, how much, this season. But we’ll see what’s in store for the latest young prospect to join OCSC.

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