The defender is looking to secure a full-time switch to the Florida-based MLS club.
Middlesbrough loanee Seb Hines has told Sky Sports of his hope for a long-term future with Orlando City SC.
Hines, 26, joined Orlando on a six-month loan deal ahead of their inaugural MLS season and has since been an ever-present in the line-up, starting each of the expansion side’s opening five matches alongside Brazilian superstar and club captain Kaka.
The team have the option to extend his spell in the summer until the end of the 2015 campaign but the Boro-owned defender is looking further into the future and hopes to see his move made permanent.
“That’s the plan,” he said. “My family are coming out to visit at the end of the month so that should be good. I’m loving it out here and at the moment it’s just about getting my head down and playing football to a high level. I will just take it as it comes and hopefully get my reward at the end of it.
“I have only been here for a short space of time but it’s definitely going to take off and I’m sure a lot of players will have it in their mind to come out here and play. You get to play with world-class players and when Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard come over, it’s just going to get more exciting for everyone.”
Hines has made 87 total appearances for Boro since coming up through the club’s ranks to earn his first-team debut in 2007 but has seen numerous injuries continue to side-track his career.
Fitness issues haven’t been a problem in Orlando so far, though, with the focus instead centred on helping the team overcome their slow start to the season.
Despite boasting Kaka’s creative qualities at their disposal, the Florida-based outfit’s lack of firepower up top has seen them win just one of their first five games, but Hines is confident that the results will soon improve.
“The results will come,” he added. “We’re a very new team and we’ve still got to learn everyone’s play. I think come the end of the season we’ll certainly be up there in the playoff places. The last few home games it’s been disappointing because the result has gone against us in the last few minutes, but you can’t fault our work rate and our desire in trying to get that win.”
Born in West Yorkshire, Hines holds a US passport through his American father, meaning he doesn’t take up an international spot on Orlando’s roster, while he also spent a brief period of his childhood living in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The centre-back represented England from Under-16 to Under-19 level but is still eligible to switch to the States and has spoken in the past of his openness to doing so.
“It would be massive,” he told American Soccer Now back in 2012. “It would be an amazing achievement with all the time training and being away injured. Everyone wants to represent their country. I’d be over the moon, really.”
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