On the heels of reports that Atlanta United is close to acquiring Matias Galarza Fonda on loan from River Plate, we have another interesting rumor to discuss.

According to the esteemed Cesar Luis Merlo, the Five Stripes have put in a formal offer for Gremio attacking midfielder Franco Cristaldo.

This is interesting for many reasons. Clearly, the club cannot add both of these players with their current roster situation. Something would have to give in the form of a player on the roster leaving. There’s also the case of both players demanding high salaries, meaning it’s extremely unlikely both are coming here.

Cristaldo, a 29-year-old from Argentina, is a player Atlanta have been linked to in the past and someone they clearly covet. He’s also a more attack-minded player than Galarza Fonda.

Whether or not this rumor makes sense is up for debate, but when CL Merlo reports something, we can’t help but take notice.

It certainly seems like it’s either Cristaldo or Galarza Fonda, but not both, at least not in the short-term. Perhaps a negotiating tactic to force River Plate’s hand into getting the Galarza Fonda deal over the line? Anything is possible. Or maybe a legitimate backup plan in case that deal falls through.

Everything seems up in the air at this point. One thing that is certain, it doesn’t seem like this team is done making moves despite the season already being underway.

Atlanta United appears to be adding a midfielder to its roster soon. According to multiple reports out of South America, the Five Stripes are set to bring in River Plate midfielder Matías Galarza Fonda on loan.

Supposedly the deal will include a clause that automatically triggers a $3 million purchase option if Galarza Fonda appears in 50 percent of the matches he’s eligible to play in for Atlanta during the length of the loan.

The 24-year-old joined River for a transfer fee of around $5 million less than a year ago but has failed to live up to the price tag. Now he needs a move to secure playing time ahead of this summer’s World Cup, in which he hopes to play in with Paraguay.

He is capable of playing any midfield role. Where he would fit into Tata Martino’s plans remains to be seen.

This seems like an attempt to bring in a talented player with extremely high potential that hasn’t performed well of late. A strategy that worked exceptionally well in Tata’s first tenure with the likes of Josef Martinez and Yamil Asad.

Atlanta United have signed free agent forward Sergio Santos to a one-year deal with a team option through the entirety of 2027. He will occupy a supplemental roster spot.

Longtime MLS watchers will be well aware of Santos from stints at multiple MLS clubs since 2019. Santos has played a backup striker role at Philadelphia, Cincinnati and (very briefly) Houston.

Santos played 660 minutes last season across stints with Cincinnati and Houston. He scored two goals and delivered two assists. In his MLS career, he’s played in 156 matches, made 70 starts and scored 28 times.

Since he occupies a supplemental roster spot, he won’t count against the salary cap. This is a short-term rental for a break glass in case of emergency backup striker. Atlanta, of course, traded primary backup Jamal Thiaré to Columbus earlier this offseason.

Updated 2/17: This move is now official. The club announced the signing on Tuesday. Welcome to the club, Fafa!

Atlanta United is finally addressing its winger depth. Less than a week until opening day and the club looks set to bring in veteran MLS winger Fafa Picault, according to Tommy Scoops.

The 35-year-old is a bit of a journeyman around the league. If the move is completed, this will be the seventh different MLS side he has played for. Most recently, he was with Inter Miami’s cup-winning side. Over the last two seasons, he has amassed 19 goal contributions in total.

Atlanta’s depth at the winger position was severely lacking. Outside of Miguel Almiron and Alexey Miranchuk (who you could argue aren’t even true wingers), the only other players on the roster fighting for minutes in those spots were Luke Brennan, Saba Lobjanidze, and Santiago Pita.

Picault is an experienced player who shouldn’t have much issue adapting to whatever role Tata needs him to play. Obviously, the big question is, how much does he have left in the tank at his age? It seems like a rather low-risk signing on the surface in an attempt to squeeze out one more productive season out of someone at the end of their career.

Nevertheless, depth is important for every club. Fafa should be a nice addition to the squad. Hopefully he still has some goal contributions left in him, because this team desperately needs that from the winger position.

Atlanta United’s preseason may be coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean the rumor mill stops spinning.

According to reports out of South America, the Five Stripes are interested in bringing River Plate midfielder Matías Galarza Fonda on loan.

Several rumblings popped up around Argentina about this link on Thursday, that were later corroborated by respected transfer sleuth Germán García Grova.

Galarza Fonda just turned 24 years old and was purchased for around $5 million by River Plate in the summer of 2025. Despite that high price tag, he has only appeared 10 times for the club since his arrival.

It appears that he is hoping for a move to gain playing time to help his chances of making Paraguay’s World Cup team. He has 13 caps for his national team alongside Miguel Almirón. He is also from Asunción, just like Miggy.

With the departure of Bartosz Slisz in the offseason, the club are on the hunt for a dynamic midfielder. However, Galarza Fonda appears to be more of a box-to-box type of player than a pure holding midfielder. How that type of player would fit into Tata’s plans remains to be seen.

This rumor is still in its infancy and is far from concrete. But it’s obviously something worth talking about as we wait for real soccer to begin. We’ll keep an eye on this and update you if there’s any positive movement.

Atlanta United has signed its second U22 Initiative player of the winter. The club announced today that it has signed fullback Elías Báez from San Lorenzo.

The 21-year-old primary plays as a left back and could compete for a starting job immediately.

“Elías has emerged as one of the best young defenders in Argentina over the past couple of seasons and we’re pleased that he has chosen Atlanta United as the next step in his career,” Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director Chris Henderson said. “He’s going to bring energy and toughness and fits well with our style of play. We look forward to welcoming him to the club and integrating him into our group.”

Báez becomes the second U22 player to join Tata Martino’s evolving squad after the addition of Tomás Jacob from Necaxa earlier in the offseason.

The young Argentine defender has appeared 52 times for San Lorenzo in the last two seasons. So, while he may be young, he is not inexperienced by any means.

This approach to buying U22 players presents a change in strategy as the club previously didn’t make going after these types of players a priority.

It’s clear that depth at the fullback position is something the club wanted to address this offseason and it appears to have done so.

There’s still a few weeks for the Five Stripes to make changes to its roster before the 2026 season begins. Let’s see if there are any more big moves on the horizon.

Just when you thought he was out, they pulled him back in.

Atlanta United announced on Thursday that club legend Brad Guzan is returning in a new hybrid role that will see him act as both Club Ambassador and Sporting Advisor.

After calling time on his illustrious playing career at the end of last season, Guz returns to help out the club he’s been an integral part of since 2017, serving in this new role under Chris Henderson.

“We are honored to keep Brad in the Atlanta United family,” said Chris Henderson, Atlanta United Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director. “Brad is uniquely positioned to add value to our organization while he continues to develop his professional skillset in this next phase of his career. The breadth of Brad’s role will allow him to combine his championship experience as a player with an unmatched institutional knowledge of our club to positively impact our organization.”

On the sporting side of things, Guzan will spend time learning all facets of the club from the scouting department to youth development. He will add his expertise to each area of the club while also gaining experience for his future in the sport off the field.

As an Ambassador, he will be a big part of the team’s content production team. Adding to his experiences on TV with Turner Sports and other outlets, he will bring a new voice the club’s media department. He’ll also serve as an ambassador for the club’s Unified team.

Culture, or a lack thereof, has been a big talking point around Atlanta United circles over the last few years. Bringing back a legend like Guz to influence the club in several ways can only be a positive thing for the cultural growth heading into the future.

Per MundoDeportivo and The Athletic’s Tom Bogert, FC Barcelona and USYNT midfielder Adrian Gill is set to join Atlanta United. If it matters to you, Five Stripe Final can confirm their reporting.

The 20-year-old midfielder would join the first team, but would occupy a supplemental roster spot. In layman’s terms, he won’t count against the salary cap.

This is Atlanta United taking a flyer on a La Masia alum who’s dealt with a number of injury problems. Gill joined La Masia in 2018, however, in 2023, he tore his ACL. In 2025, he missed months of action due to another serious knee injury. He never played for Barcelona’s first team and spent minimal time with Barca B. He spent time on loan at Cornella in the Spanish fourth division. He’s made seven appearances for the USYNT.

Essentially, Atlanta has added something close to a homegrown player with the pedigree of coming up in the sport’s most famous academy. It’s a low-risk, potentially high-reward move. Gill will likely spend time with the 2s this year in addition to the first team.

Atlanta United are in search of defensive midfielder and it appears their attention has focused towards England.

Respected journalist Germán García Grova, who has reported on plenty of Five Stripes transfers lately, is at it again by dropping a nugget in our laps on Wednesday.

He says that Atlanta have made an official offer to sign Guido Rodríguez from West Ham.

This apparently comes on the heels of La Liga side Valencia trying and failing to acquire the well-traveled midfielder via a loan move.

Rodríguez, 31, is a highly-decorated player that has played all over the world. In addition to his Premier League experience, he’s been with clubs like Real Betis in La Liga, and played over 100 matches with Club América in Liga MX.

Adding on to his impressive club career, he’s also appeared 30 times for the Argentina national team. He was a member of the 2022 World Cup-winning squad, in which he appeared in their win over Mexico in the second group match of the tournament.

With the departure of Bartosz Slisz, the club have openly admitted to be on the search for a lynchpin type of midfielder that Tata Martino can build around. Rodríguez seems to fit this mold.

The big question is, how can Atlanta get this deal done with all three of their Designated Player slots already filled? It is reported that his annual salary is just shy of $5 million. To fit him onto the roster, one of a few things must occur. He would need to agree to take a massive pay cut. The club could work some kind of Inter Miami-type magic and get him on a team-friendly loan deal. Or, the most unlikely scenario, unload one of their DPs to make room.

Clearly there are still massive questions to be answered about this rumor, despite it making logical sense in terms of positional fit.

We’ll keep an eye on this and update if anything major happens.

Independiente Santa Fe announced on Sunday that it has completed the signing of Edwin Mosquera from Atlanta United. The deal is done as Mosquera started a league match for the club immediately after the announcement.

This marks the end of a four-season run with Atlanta for the U22 Initiative winger, who was signed back in 2022.

During his time with the Five Stripes, Mosquera appeared in 59 matches, scoring six goals and adding four assists.

The 24-year-old was in the midst of a loan move with Millonarios in his home country, before agreeing to terminate that deal to be able to complete this transfer.

This move opens up a valuable U22 Initiative spot that the club can now utilize to continue to revamp its roster. It remains to be seen if and when that spot could be used, but the option is now on the table for Chris Henderson and his staff.

Mosquera’s time in Atlanta was ultimately a disappointing one. While he did show flashes of his electric pace and explosive 1-v-1 ability, his final product was often found lacking.

Nevertheless, we wish Edwin good luck in the rest of his career and thank him for his time at the club.

Ronald Hernández is returning to Atlanta United for a sixth season. The club announced today that it has re-signed the Venezuelan international to a one-year contract with an option for 2027.

This news comes after Hernández’s contract option was declined after last season. After going through the free agent process, he decided to return to the club, presumably at a lower salary that he was previously making.

The defender returns to a squad that has an uncertain outlook at his position of right back. Brooks Lennon also had his contract option declined after last season, leaving the starting spot wide open.

So far this offseason, the only player brought in who is capable of playing the position is U-22 Initiative signing Tomás Jacob from Necaxa, who is able to play in midfield, at center back, and right back.

More than likely, Hernández is being brought back for depth and chemistry purposes. His ability to fill in an back line position in a pinch is very useful. He’s also good friends with several players on the team, which helps with the squad’s overall morale.

What are your thoughts on the news? Let us know in the comments.

It was a nightmare of a season for Atlanta United and Miguel Almirón in 2025. Everything that could go wrong, pretty much did. However, the light at the end of the tunnel is a familiar one in the form of Tata Martino.

Everyone will be hoping that Tata’s return will light a spark under everyone at the club, including the player he has the most history with on the team.

You don’t have to remind Five Stripes supporters how magical of time 2017 and 2018 was. The iconic Argentine manager leading a youthful and exciting squad to an MLS Cup was the talk of the town and all of MLS. At the forefront of that squad was Miggy, a player a lot of people were calling the best player in the entire league during that span.

Fast forward six years and Miggy’s return was not at all what everyone hoped it would be. Who knows if Tata coming back can unlock Miggy to become a dynamic impactful force again. However, speaking in an interview with Olé, Atlanta’s No. 10 revealed just how much the returning Tata means to him.

“Tata is like a father to me,” Almirón told Olé. “I always said it. I'm very happy because he returned to Atlanta, he returned home; I think he feels that way too. I'm very happy to be able to work with him again.”

Make sure to go read the full interview where he discusses a multitude of topics like the World Cup and how much MLS has changed in the time he was in England.

There are many doubts surrounding Atlanta United heading into 2026 and a big one is just how effective an aging Miggy can be. We can only hope Tata and him reuniting is enough to bring out whatever magic remains.

In a rapid fire question and answer segment to conclude the interview Miggy was asked both who is the best coach he’s ever had and who is the best player he’s ever shared the field with. His answers?

Tata Martino and Josef Martinez.

The first major departure of the offseason has happened. Atlanta United announced today that Bartosz Slisz has completed a permanent transfer to Brøndby IF of the Danish Superliga.

Slisz leaves the club after two seasons in MLS. He made 62 appearances for the Five Stripes during that time, scoring four goals and adding three assists.

Financial details of the deal were not publicly disclosed, but reports out of Europe suggest that the Five Stripes will receive a transfer fee of over three million euros.

That fee would be around the same amount the club paid to bring in the midfielder a few years ago.

While the return on investment would be minimal, the move opens up a significant amount of salary cap space for the club to acquire more players and build the squad to fit Tata Martino’s vision.

Bartek‘s tenure in Atlanta will be remembered as a complicated one. He was always an energetic and passionate figure in the team, no one can question that. What’s debatable was his tangible impact on the squad in relation to his budget charge. No matter your opinion on that topic, it’s clear Slisz gave everything he had to the club when on the field.

There’s still plenty of offseason and silly season remaining to fully judge what the team’s midfield for 2026 will look like. However, as things stand, Steven Alzate and Jay Fortune appear to be the two players to benefit the most from this move. We can only wait and see how the rest of the winter plays out.

Atlanta United have officially announced the signing of Tomás Jacob to a U-22 initiative deal through 2029 with options for the 2029-30 and 2030-31 seasons. Tom Bogert of The Athletic reported the transfer fee is around $5 million. Since Jacob is a U-22 initiative signing, his cap hit will only be $200k. He will occupy a senior roster spot and take up an international spot.

As Rob Usry pointed out in an earlier write-up, the 21-year-old arrives from Liga MX’s Necaxa after a short stint. He made 17 appearances after arriving this summer. Prior to Necaxa, he made 50 appearances for Argentina’s Newell’s Old Boys, Tata Martino’s former club.

Jacob appears to be very versatile, with the ability to play in midfield and along multiple spots on the back line. The indication early on seems to be that he’ll operate as a right back for Atlanta United. However, don’t be too surprised if he steps in as a right-sided center back in a back three at some point during his time in Atlanta.

Atlanta now has just one U-22 slot available. Jacob is the second consecutive signing with ties to Newell’s, where Martino played, coached and is considered a club legend.

Atlanta United looks set to sign a new U22 initiative player. Tommy Scoops reports that the club is close to acquiring versatile midfielder Tomás Jacob from Liga MX side Necaxa.

Jacob, 21, was born in Santa Fe, Argentina as is a product of Tata Martino’s old club Newell’s Old Boys.

Listed primarily as a central midfielder, Jacob is capable of playing a multitude of defensive positions, including centerback and fullback. With how crowded Atlanta’s midfield already is, it seems likely his best chance at meaningful minutes in 2026 would be along the back line in some capacity.

With the departure of Brooks Lennon and the uncertain status of Ronald Hernandez, the biggest hole that Jacob fits currently would be the right back spot.

No matter where he ends up being deployed, having a player technical enough to play in the midfield able to play different positions should be a good asset.

Jacob will occupy the second U22 initiative spot for Atlanta, with Edwin Mosquera still having the other despite being on loan. The club will have one more spot to utilize if it so wishes.

The NWSL has officially announced the creation of the “High Impact Player” rule.

Frankly, this is just TAM with extra (and very unserious) steps. But the chance to spend more money is good for Atlanta’s Unnamed NWSL Team and it’s at least a starting point for the NWSL to move toward roster mechanisms that allow teams to keep the league’s best (kind of) players.

We already ran through a brief explainer on this one when it first got reported, but, now that it’s official and approved by the NWSLPA, we know exactly how it will work. And, folks, it’s goofy as hell.

We’ll do our best to do a TL;DR on what’s happening here.

• The NWSL is a salary cap league.

• A player’s salary for the season is all that counts against the cap, transfer fees do not.

• Some players are beginning to have market values that have outpaced the small increases to the salary cap that happen each year.

• So, for example, if a star player like Trinity Rodman is set to sign a new contract, there’s a decent chance a team in Europe can offer her more than an NWSL team reasonably could. As good as Rodman is, one player taking up an outsized portion of a salary cap can quickly turn into bad business for individual teams.

• Which, of course, is bad business for the NWSL. The league (and its markets) need stars to stick around.

• FACT: The NWSL is a soccer league based in the United States of America.

• So, naturally, instead of doing something normal about this problem, they’ve decided to do something weird.

• They could have just raised the salary cap and let teams spend what they need, how they want. They’ve chosen to go with HIPs instead.

• Why? To protect owners who don’t want to spend as much from scrutiny and because no one with a business degree gets paid to suggest things should be changed simply, they get paid to come up with cool acronyms and initialisms that create value for shareholders (probably).

Now, if you’ve got a spare roster rules helmet around from your MLS days, it’s time to put it on. This is going to get goofy.

• The creation of HIPs allows clubs to exceed that year’s established salary cap by $1 million.

• A team can have multiple HIPs, so long as the collective salaries of those players don’t push teams over that $1 million threshold.

• Only HIPs can count against that extra $1 million.

• So, for example, if your current roster is taking up $2.5 million of the current year’s $3.5 million salary cap, you could add an HIP who makes $2 million. The extra $1 million will be covered by their HIP status.

• If your current roster is taking up $2.5 million of the current year’s $3.5 million salary cap, you could add two HIPs who each make $1 million to bring your salary total to $4.5 million. The extra $1 million will be covered by their HIP status.

• That $1 million number will increase at the same rate as the salary cap.

• The NWSL’s base salary cap for 2026 is $3.5 million. When Atlanta enters the league in 2028, the base salary cap will be $4.7 million.

• According to several Georgia Tech graduates, that puts the HIP allotment at $1.34 million during Atlanta’s inaugural season.

This is all kind of ridiculous, when, again, you could just raise the salary cap. But it somehow gets even goofier.

You might have been thinking that teams can determine who they make an HIP. Nope. That’s all going to be determined by the league. And the league has decided to offload the job to the world’s most correct class: Bloggers.

That’s not a bit. This is what’s happening. Someone decided people like me should be in charge of this. Direct from the NWSL, here are the criteria a player must meet to become an HIP.

• Player is on SportsPro Media Top 150 Most Marketable Athletes within the one (1) year prior to the current league season; or,

• Player is selected in the Top 30 in Ballon d’Or voting in the two (2) years prior to the current league season; or

• Player is selected in the Top 40 of the Guardian Top 100 football players in the world in the two (2) years prior; or

• Player is selected in the Top 40 of ESPN FC Top 50 football players in the world in the two (2) years prior; or

• Top 11 minutes played for the USWNT in the prior two (2) calendar years for field players for all competition types; or

• Top one (1) minutes played for USWNT in the prior two (2) calendar years for goalkeepers for all competition types; or

• Player selected as NWSL MVP Finalist within previous the two (2) league seasons; or

• Player selected to the End of Year NWSL Best XI First Team within the previous two (2) league seasons.

I, for one, can’t wait for our first scandal where an NWSL front office leaves a duffel bag full of money in the back of a Guardian Top 100 voter’s pre-owned Subaru (235k miles) so their fringe HIP of choice can get a boost into the top 40.

Now, you might have also been wondering: Are the players happy about this?

Dear reader, no. No they are not.

The NWSLPA has an incredibly reasonable suggestion here. This could get messy. It’s not clear what path they’ll take to fight against this—They’ll probably file a grievance for whatever that’s worth—and the current CBA runs through 2030. But, considering the player and fan reaction to this, there is a decent chance this mechanic won’t even exist by the time Atlanta’s Unnamed NWSL Team arrives.

We’ll keep you updated. Aren’t you glad to have a new league in your life?

Atlanta United began the SuperDraft exactly how we thought they would: By immediately shipping out their No. 2 pick in exchange for General Allocation Money. However, we definitely didn’t expect so much GAM to be coming back the other way.

Atlanta swapped their No. 2 pick with FC Dallas in exchange for $400k in GAM and Dallas’ No. 12 pick. They’ll get $350k for the 2026 season and $50k in 2027. As best I can tell—I looked through all the drafts on Wikipedia, this is journalism at its finest—$400k is tied for the single largest GAM haul for a SuperDraft pick ever. In 2023, St. Louis traded away the No. 1 pick for the same amount and a No. 20 pick. Last time I checked, picking 12th is better than picking 20th. For a trade that didn’t involve another team’s player, this is genuinely as good as you can possibly do.

With that 12th pick, Atlanta went ahead and took Enzo Dovlo from UNC Greensboro. Dovlo is a winger who scored 10 goals and delivered eight assists in 23 games this season. He also recently won the USL League Two title with Vermont Green FC. Most importantly, people who are actually invested in college soccer and MLS seem to be impressed by this pick.

Now, as Paul points out, Dovlo would require an international roster spot to be with the first team. Dovlo hails from Strasbourg, France, and, frankly, that’s going to make it very difficult for him to break through and become a regular contributor. There have been other Atlanta draft picks who have had the chops to play in MLS but weren’t good enough to find an international spot in the couch cushions for. If he gets to the first team, he’ll have truly earned it.

Either way, congrats to Dovlo and congrats to Chris Henderon on doing whatever he did to fleece Dallas here.

Silly season is in full swing for Atlanta United. While no incoming moves have officially been made, the return of Tata Martino has shifted the South American transfer rumor mill into overdrive.

This week, we saw several notable developments emerge. However, we’re going to focus on the two most credible ones to try and weed out the noise until it’s worth highlighting.

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Both of these rumors come from respected Argentine journalist Germán García Grova.

On Saturday morning, he claims that Atlanta United has made a formal offer for left-back Elías Báez from San Lorenzo.

Báez turned 21 in October and will undoubtedly occupy a U22 initiative slot if acquired.

While there are no details on Atlanta’s offer, earlier reports suggest that San Lorenzo wants a transfer fee of around $4 million.

Supposedly, River Plate were also interested in signing the youngster, but were priced out of a deal.

It seems a little suspect that the club would pay that amount of money for a left-back when they struggled so mightily in attack last season. But crazier things have happened around these parts.

Another link to Atlanta popped up earlier this week when García Grova revealed that 39-year-old, soon-to-be-free-agent Enzo Pérez could be an option when his contract runs out later this month.

Pérez is a legend of Argentinian soccer, spending most of the last eight seasons with River Plate, winning the controversial 2019 Copa Libertadores title with the club. Before joining River, he spent time in Europe with Benfica and Valencia. He’s also appeared 26 times for the Argentina national team, with his last cap coming in 2018.

He’s at the end of his career. Perhaps Tata could envision a role for the midfielder in his new regime. At 39 years of age, it’s obviously a risky signing if it comes to fruition. However, as a free agent pickup, there are worse risks to take.

This rumor seems less concrete than the former link, but it is one to keep an eye on.

Noah Cobb is no longer an Atlanta United player, according to Tom Bogert.

The Colorado Rapids will exercise the trade option on the centerback’s loan deal to permanently acquire him, per the report.

Atlanta United will receive $500,000 in General Allocation Money in return.

The loan move was met with much consternation by Atlanta supporters when it happened. Losing a young player who you’ve invested a lot of energy into following is never easy.

It’s clear that Atlanta is committed to rebuilding their defense, and apparently, Cobb wasn’t in their long-term plans.

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What those plans exactly are remains to be seen, and have a lot of Atlanta fans scratching their head over this move to get rid of a promising defender.

There’s a long offseason ahead with twists and turns surely to come. At this point, we can only wait and see how everything plays out before fully judging these types of moves.

It’s about that time, folks. Silly Season is upon us.

Atlanta United has been linked to two different transfer targets this week. Let’s talk about them.

Argentinian journalist Fede Cristofanelli claims that Newell’s Old Boys goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos has a “serious chance” to join the Five Stripes when his contract with his current club expires at the end of December.

Hoyos is a 36-year-old goalkeeper who would arrive on a free transfer if this rumor were to come to fruition.

It should be noted that Hoyos is coming off a major knee injury he suffered in late 2024. He returned to the field in October 2025 after a long layoff.

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While it seems unlikely he’d be the one to take the starting job from Jayden Hibbert, there’s really no telling what the club and Tata Martino truly think when it comes to who they want to start.

At the very least, this appears to be a potential move to bring in some competition for the job.

The next rumor comes from a journalist from Paraguay. Jorge Chipi Vera says that Atlanta United is “very close” to signing centerback Júnior Alonso from Atlético Mineiro.

The 32-year-old defender appeared 28 times in the Brasileiro Série A so far this season. He plays primarily as a left-sided centerback. He would likely require a transfer fee of some sort to be acquired.

Atlanta’s defense has been in constant flux over the past 12 months. Tata’s return to the club was always going to mean changes to the squad were coming. However, if this move materializes, it would surely cause a ripple effect throughout the roster. There is already quite a long list of defenders at the club, and not enough payroll to go around.

As always, these are just rumors for now. Nothing is imminent. We’ll keep you updated if anything major happens. Also, remember to join us in Discord for more conversation regarding any other rumors that may pop up in the offseason.