Atlanta United, rarely boring for mostly the wrong reasons as of late, are ready to turn the page on 2022 and focus on 2023.
Their offseason officially began Sunday afternoon, capping a campaign where Atlanta failed to make the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the second time in three years. The Five Stripes remain in an active search for a new club president while juggling contract decisions and plotting a path back to success on the sporting side.
Vice president and technical director Carlos Bocanegra, as well as head coach Gonzalo Pineda, took questions from the media and addressed numerous topics facing the club ahead of next year.
Thiago Almada to UCL?
One of the club’s best additions in recent memory, Argentine wonderkid Thiago Almada is living up to the moniker of being the league’s most expensive transfer.
Almada, who arrived from Velez Sarsfield last winter for $16 million, had six goals and 12 assists across 29 games in his debut MLS season. Before long, he’ll be in Europe, following suit for a club that once set an MLS outbound transfer record (reported $27 million) when sending Miguel Almiron to Newcastle United in January 2019.
But will offers come in as early as this winter or will the attacking midfielder be in MLS a bit longer?
“At some point, we know he’ll be going over to Europe and playing Champions League football,” Bocanegra said. “We're really excited about that. I don’t know what’s going to come this winter. The thought for us is that he would be coming back, but eventually we do know that he will be going to Europe and playing in the Champions League.”
At the end of the season, Almada was rewarded with a call-up to Argentina’s senior national team in their final pre-World Cup window. A constant at youth international levels, Almada made his senior debut in a September friendly against Honduras.
“We’re really proud of him,” Bocanegra said. “We saw the comments from the national team coach after the game, saw \[Lionel\] Messi's comments. The kid comes in and works hard every day. He's a good pro. He loves the game.”
The Josef Martinez situation
As for another high-profile potential departure – in case you forgot over the last few days – the future of Josef Martinez remains in the air. ATLUTD are still waiting to sit down at length with Martinez and his representation, so neither Bocanegra nor Pineda had much to say on the matter.
“There’s been nothing decided,” Bocanegra said. “We're still going to have discussions. We need to talk with him and other players as well.”
Martinez, 29, had already requested a meeting with the front office to discuss his future at the club. He didn't start any of the club’s last eight matches of the season and only three of the final 15. Martinez was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team in September, reportedly for an outburst that included flipping a table of post-game food after a loss at the Portland Timbers.
After the suspension was announced, Pineda admitted there had been "multiple cases or situations" of "bad behavior" with Martinez.
Pineda continues to insist the relationship between himself and Martinez is fine amid a diminished on-field role, though.
“I don’t think also the relationship has gone as far [bad] as you think it's gone,” Pineda said. “I think I can very easily speak with Josef. I have nothing to hide and I'm here. I don’t think the relationship's been poor, bad, anything like that. We shake hands, we talk here and there in the training sessions with no problems. There is no major issues in that relationship as you may think.”
Bocanegra also noted that Atlanta have a club option for Martinez in 2024. His deal is guaranteed through 2023.
Martinez is a former MLS MVP and MLS Cup MVP, scoring 98 goals in 134 regular-season appearances with Atlanta, arriving for the club’s 2017 expansion season.
“He’s a competitive person,” Bocanegra said. “He’s been fantastic with the club for these six years, he’s done fantastic things for us. We understand what he means here and what he means to the club. I spoke to his agent, like I spoke with many of the other players' agents, throughout the year. We have touch points and we’ll be speaking with his [agent] as well as others in the coming weeks.”
Will Ozzie Alonso return for a 15th MLS season?
Atlanta United certainly want him to.
Alonso, one of the league’s best-ever defensive midfielders, signed for Atlanta last winter as the club looked to inject his experience, savvy and – even in his career's latter years – quality into the group. The Cuban d-mid played just four games before enduring a torn ACL in April, which ended his season.
Though Alonso turns 37 in November, Atlanta have long made their desires known that they hope the former Seattle Sounders and Minnesota United standout returns for 2023.
“Yes, we would like to have him Alonso\] back,” Bocanegra said. “That’s a conversation that we had pretty close to right after he got injured. He’s a fantastic leader. He does so much on the field for us. He’s a great mentor for [Santi \[Sosa\]. He’s a winner. There’s a lot of things we missed without him being on the field this year, and we're hopeful that he can join at the start of preseason or just after the start of preseason.”
Via free agency, Alonso signed a one-year contract last winter with a team option for 2023. As long as he doesn’t retire, it sounds like he’ll be back.
Optimism for 2023?
In addition to potentially getting Alonso back from injury, they’ll definitely get defensive stalwarts Brad Guzan and Miles Robinson back in the mix from ruptured Achilles tendon injuries.
Guzan has been the club’s starting goalkeeper for years, while Robinson was among the favorites for Defender of the Year ahead of the start of 2022 and was on track to feature for the US men's national team at the Qatar 2022 World Cup. They are two major pieces that Atlanta largely were without upon finishing 11th in the Eastern Conference table (10W-14L-10D record).
Atlanta dealt with long-term injuries to Martinez, Emerson Hyndman, Andrew Gutman, Ronald Hernandez, Brooks Lennon and others during the course of the year as well.
“We’re looking to build consistency with Gonzalo, he’s a great young coach,” Bocanegra said. “He had a tough run of it this year with what he's had to deal with, but the attention to detail, the preparation, the work that him and his staff put in, he’s a really bright young coach.”
In a scramble to add players during the summer, Atlanta were careful not to mortgage future flexibility. Goalkeeper Raúl Gudiño and center back Juanjo Purata joined on deals that were only guaranteed through the end of the 2022 season. This winter, they’ll make decisions on that Mexican duo and others.
“We felt good about the way we plugged holes without crippling our team with the future,” Bocanegra said. “We didn’t trade some assets we didn’t want to trade for a short, quick fix. We didn’t leverage our cap in a way that we’d have to sell players this offseason. I feel quite good [about the salary cap].”
Atlanta have among the most opulent attacks in the league, led by Almada and Brazilian winger Luiz Araujo, irrespective of if Martinez returns or not. The Five Stripes are aiming to bounce back in 2023.
“I think the right pieces are here to create something special,” Pineda said. “If I didn’t believe that, I’d quit. But I believe in my staff, my players, the support staff at the club. We have belief in this building.”
