Steven Alzate is here for the long haul. What will that mean for Atlanta United?

I hope you like take-ons in midfield

Steven Alzate is here and he’s here for the long haul. Atlanta United announced yesterday that Alzate is under contract through 2030. With Atlanta paying a reported $2 million transfer fee, it’s very, very likely he’ll be a player Atlanta is using a considerable amount of TAM on. Basically, he’ll have one of the highest non-DP budget charges on the team.

In MLS, that’s a big investment. These guys need to hit. If not…well, you’ve been watching this season.

It’s not ideal that there are immediate concerns with this move. Rob laid it out a bit in his piece from earlier today. Alzate played for Ronny Deila at Belgian club Standard Liege during the 2022-23 season. The obvious question here is whether Atlanta United signed the best player available on their list or a good player on the list who got a boost from his previous connection to Deila. I don’t need to explain to you why signing a player for four and a half years based on his fit with a coach that will be on a molten-hot seat entering 2026 is perilous.

The good news here is there’s reason to believe this isn’t a Deila-specific signing. Now, there is a decent chance Alzate’s experience with Deila helped sell him on the move. But let’s try and look at this deal in a vacuum.

Beyond the Deila connection, the two big questions here are: (1) Is he going to be a good MLS player? (2) What role will he play?

The answer to the first question,