In Atlanta United manager Gonzalo Pineda’s mind, it’s not whether star striker Josef Martinez improves on last year. It’s how much he improves.
Upon his return from an ACL tear that ruled him out of nearly the entire 2020 campaign, Martinez scored a team-leading 12 goals as Atlanta weathered a poor start and managerial change to return to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs after a year away.
Those dozen strikes might have been well shy of the 77 he produced across a three-year stretch that saw him win the 2018 MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi and 2018 Landon Donovan MLS MVP awards. But in an interview on Extratime, Pineda told host Andrew Wiebe that Martinez’s 2021 clearly showed that a 2022 resurgence is possible.
"He wasn’t at his best. We all saw that. He was coming back from a tough injury, a very tough injury, and still no one scored more goals than him in the team,” Pineda explained. “If he’s going to be better this year, he’s going to better physically, he’s going to be fitter, he’s going to be faster, he’s going to be better than last year. I hope he scores many, many goals for this club. And if we help him with clear ideas to create a lot [of] good chances for him, I’m sure that he’s going to score many goals for Atlanta United.”
How many exactly? Without using numbers, Pineda in no uncertain terms said he believes Martinez can return to his 2017-19 vintage if those around him play well enough.
“If we don’t serve the right passes, if we don’t create the right chances for him, he won’t score many. So it’s again a team’s effort,” Pineda said. “But that’s the case that we hope he comes back to the Josef Martinez in 2017 and 2018 where he was fantastic, he scored many, many goals. That’s the expectation. If we don’t think Josef is going to come back to that level, he wouldn’t be here in the team anymore.”
Almada arrival?
That group behind Martinez is widely expected to soon receive a substantial addition.
With a Designated Player spot open following Ezequiel Barco's loan to River Plate, multiple reports have Atlanta reaching a transfer agreement for Velez Sarsfield midfielder Thiago Almada.
Nothing official has materialized yet. But without naming names, Pineda explored the desired characteristics of an attacking addition he believes will arrive prior to ATLUTD's home opener on Feb. 27 against Sporting Kansas City.
The ideal fit may be someone who can complement DP winger Luiz Araujo’s dynamic traits.
“It can be a good winger, it can be a good guy who can be very good on the 1-v-1 dribbling to unlock lower blocks and stuff like that. Or it can be a very good player, a connector similar to Thiago as you mentioned,” Pineda said.
“With Luiz Araujo, [he’s] a very good dribbler, a very good guy when he’s on the ball. His speed and his power when he goes forward is fantastic,” Pineda continued. “So another playmaker that maybe makes the right pass and takes the right decisions in between the lines I think can be something that we may be looking at.”
MVP caliber
If it does indeed end up being Almada, Pineda is confident that Atlanta would have three MVP-caliber DPs in the final third. On paper, the attack could rival their group that won MLS Cup 2018 and both the U.S. Open Cup and Campeones Cup in 2019.
Araujo arrived last summer after helping Lille to a Ligue 1 title, the Brazilian winger showing electric abilities.
"I believe he is an MVP candidate for sure," Pineda said of Araujo's quality. "Same as Josef and same as, probably, you name Thiago Almada. I think the three of them have that caliber. It’s just a matter of if they truly believe that. That’s the question, it’s for the players because we all believe they are very good DPs, they are MVP candidates. That’s why they are in a team like Atlanta United. But it’s about them and performing consistently in every training session as an MVP. That’s the question."
For more from Extratime, check out the latest episode here.
