Atlanta United on Friday announced its 2024 roster before Major League Soccer’s roster compliance deadline. The most notable takeaway: Stian Gregersen taking up Atlanta’s third Designated Player spot.
It was reported earlier in the week by Doug Roberson of the AJC that two of Bartosz Slisz, Stian Gregersen, or Saba Lobjandize would be bought down with TAM (Targeted Allocation Money) for roster compliance, while the player who could not be bought down would become the third DP.
That player ended up being Gregersen, who, according to Tom Bogert, can still be bought down in the future.
“When we structure our deals, a lot of it depends on the transfer fee, when the transfer fee was paid, their salary plus transfer fee altogether lumped in,” Atlanta United vice president and technical director Carlos Bocanegra said. “In this case, it made the most sense for us from a budget perspective.”
Fans may wonder why Gregersen, dubbed as the Miles Robinson replacement, is a designated player while Atlanta refused to bring back Robinson as a DP. While Robinson was making just over $1.4 million in 2023 as a non-DP, any player whose total compensation and acquisition cost (transfer fee) exceeds $683,750 (the league’s maximum budget charge) can be classified as a DP.
This applies to Gregersen, but he most likely is not making as much money as Robinson as his DP tag — dubbed a “restricted DP tag” by Bocanegra — was applied for rule compliance.
Overall, Atlanta’s primary roster has 2 spots available, while their supplemental roster has 1 spot open with forward Erik Centeno being loaned to ATL UTD 2 for the second year in a row.
While Atlanta don’t have the flexibility to add a “starting caliber player”, Bocanegra noted, it could “potentially” seek to add a 3rd striker, considering the possibility of Giorgos Giakoumakis heading to Euro 2024 (should Greece qualify) coupled with his injury history from last season despite a near-Golden Boot campaign. Jamal Thiaré is currently Atlanta’s backup striker but won’t be available on Saturday at the Columbus Crew (concussion).
“At the moment, there’s not a rush on that,” Bocanegra said. “If we bring that player in, we want that to be a player that will compete and fight for playing time, not just bringing someone in to fill a roster spot.”
A left-footed option at left back behind Caleb Wiley and Aiden McFadden is another possibility, Bocanegra hinted.
“Other than that, we feel pretty good about our roster and pretty deep at the various positions,” he added.
Etienne’s contract is a bit less horrible than believed. Non official sources last year when he was signed were reporting 5 guaranteed years. It’s actually 3 plus an option year.
Almada set through 2026, which takes some of the pressure off the team to move him on ASAP, even for a bad deal.
Great point on Etienne. With the Senior Maximum going up each year, his contract looks more and more manageable, especially since it is just guaranteed through the end of 2025. Last year he made $676,250 which was just barely xAM territory, so if his compensation doesn’t increase or only slightly increases relative to the new Senior Maximum of $683,750 then that won’t be too painful for us and allow for more patience with working him into a role that allows him to contribute.
Also good point on Almada. With Almada and Wiley locked up through 2026, there isn’t a big rush to sell either of our young phenoms so this allows us to find the best deal for them and for Atlanta United.
My God. MLS has literally NEVER admitted option years for all players on a roster before. Info on a few incoming players that included option years was released on a few signings, but never before on the entire roster level. I am stunned at the change. Great to finally have it.
On an somewhat related note, I guess Armas didn’t make the senior team after all. Bummer. Still optimistic about that guy long term.
There is still time. He is under contract with the 2s so he could still be promoted but there isn’t a lot of urgency right now to make that happen.
So Robinson was making 1.3 mil? How’s that?
Not sure exactly what you mean by the question, so apologies if I misunderstood. Salaries under $1.6 million last year (not sure what the number is for 2024) could be bought down with TAM money and not require the player to be on a DP slot. Salaries over $1.6 million required a DP slot and could not be bought down. Robinson’s salary was around $1.43 million according to the MLSPA release last year.
“Of the referees assigned to MLS action on Saturday, 24 of them hold the federation’s basic “referee” license, while 19 have met the criteria for a regional license, U.S. Soccer’s intermediate license. Seventeen of those involved are USSF-certified “national” referees, the highest certification available via the federation.
A basic “referee” license is available to anybody above the age of 13 who completes the certification requirements, which include several hours of online or in-person training…”
https://theathletic.com/5295428/2024/02/23/mls-replacement-referees-lockout-soccer/?source=user_shared_article
Love the level of transparency.
Running down the official roster release we can see that several players are at the end of their guaranteed years in 2024. Guzan (option 2025), Hernandez (option 2025), McCarty (option 2025), Thiare (option 2025), Westberg, McFadden, Wolff (options 2025), Firmino (option 2025 & 2026), Fortune (option 2025 & 2026), and Efrain Morales (option 2025 & 2026) will all be playing to extend their professional careers either in Atlanta or with another team in 2025. That is a lot of incentive for just over one-third of the team.
It is also interesting to see that Sosa and Ibarra are both on the last years of their guaranteed contracts with options for 2025. Either their new club buys their contract or they are likely gone at the end of the season. I’d have to think the one-time buy-out option for us is being held in reserve in case one of those loans ends prematurely.
Have to imagine this is an important season for Centeno as he once again heads to the 2s on loan. He is going to turn 22 this year has option years in 2025 and 2026 but has not yet gotten close to cracking the first team. He was always intended to be a long-term development project on the right flank but with Lennon cemented at RB and several great options ahead of him on the wing, I don’t see how he cracks the roster any time soon.
By my count, we have our full set of 8 international slots filled so those green cards for Mosquera, Almada, and Hernandez were all very timely.
In all, we still have 2 senior roster slots and 1 Supplemental Roster slot to work with. If we were going to promote Armas or Gallardo, they would fill that Supplemental Slot. The senior roster slots will be more constrained by how much cap space remains. I would imagine the backup left-footed left-back would be an option for one of those slots and the 3rd center forward could fill either.
Appreciate the clarity on the roster.
Thiaré got another concussion? He’s got bad luck with those.
Good point about the Robinson vs Gregersen DP. I knew that was the case, but it didn’t occur to me until you mentioned it that some might think that means we gave Gregersen more money than Robinson.
Once you get one..the next one is easier to get and the third even easier. In a sport where you kinda have to use your head, this could be career-ending. Unless he wants to be a veggie brain in his 50s.