Ashton Gordon ascendant; who could follow him as Atlanta United’s next Homegrown Player?

Move over Romario Williams. Atlanta United’s next great Jamaican striker has arrived.

After an impressive first preseason appearance with the senior team, Academy U-17 forward Ashton Gordon signed the kind of contract that Atlanta United fans should expect to see a lot more for the club’s emerging waves of talented youngsters. The deal will make Gordon a professional soccer player for the first time in 2024 with Atlanta United 2 in MLS NEXT Pro. After a year of being under contract with the 2s, Gordon will receive a promotion to Homegrown Player status with the MLS club. Adyn Torres, Luke Brennan, and Superdraft pick Jayden Hibbert have signed similar contracts over the last couple of seasons. For Gordon, this will be a golden opportunity to grow into the professional game while learning from senior players like Greek International forward Giorgios Giakoumakis and Jamal Thiare, while also having the freedom to be a young player who will make mistakes. At the reserve level, the stakes on the field are not as high so players have a greater opportunity to take chances, challenge themselves, and grow from mistakes. With Gordon becoming increasingly important for Jamaica and with Atlanta’s depth at center forward looking thin, he will have plenty of opportunities to show his club and country what he can do.

So, who else could be on the doorstep of their professional career?

Our top choice in the last edition of “Who Will Be the Next Homegrown” was U-17 left flanking player Dom Chong Qui. Like Ashton Gordon, Chong Qui was among the academy invitees to participate in the club’s opening preseason match against Birmingham. During his brief cameo, he showcased his strong defending, mobility, and athleticism that have led many to expect him to be Caleb Wiley’s successor at the position by 2026. He will likely platoon with Daniel Russo at left-back this season with Atlanta United 2, and could even find some time as a left wing. There are a lot of elements of his game, his growth timeline, and his profile as a player that resemble Wiley so it is no surprise that the front office has name dropped Chong Qui during preseason conversations with the press.

Another academy standout that received a lot of attention during the preseason is midfielder Cooper Sanchez. Fans who watched the preseason match against Birmingham may remember Sanchez as the midfielder who fearlessly threw himself around, picking up what seemed like an absurd number of fouls in what had already been a highly physical match. You have to love seeing a 16-year-old bully older and bigger players in a long defensive series. Sanchez can play anywhere in the midfield but likely profiles as a two-way 8. He has above-average field awareness, passing, and an understanding for the flow of the game that surpasses what you would expect for a player his age. He has also been part of a competition between the United States and the Mexican Federation for his future services with Mexico being the latest federation to call him into a youth national team camp. He made his debut with the 2s last April and should be set to add to what has already been an impressive academy career.

Speaking of impressive and fearless midfielders, Alan Carleton is ready to take the next step. His physical frame has finally started to catch up with his advanced passing and soccer IQ. No longer will his diminutive size be as much of a liability in the central midfield. Carleton begins 2024 on the last year of his first contract with the 2s and should have every opportunity to make the jump to the first team in 2024. For anyone who has not yet watched him control a midfield, I highly recommend checking out a few 2s matches this season. You will be in for a treat.

Another player who has jumped way up this list of potential homegrowns is left-sided central defender Kaiden Moore. Moore has been on our radar for a couple of years now but this preseason has been a bit of a coming out party for the young centerback. Moore is an excellent defender with a strong passing ability. It is a pleasure to watch him ping the ball all over the field from the left centerback position. He will get a lot of minutes this season with the 2s and should be in consideration for a professional contract with the 2s in 2025 with the promotion clause to a Homegrown Player in 2026.

Unlike other recent articles where I’ve offered up to 10 current academy or 2s players to consider, I am going to try to hold myself to the extremely challenging task of naming just 5 in the system and 5 currently in college. This means that we will be leaving out our uber goalkeeper prospect Jonathan Ransom, highly reliable right-back Shawn Lanza, gigantic 14-year-old centerback prospect Ethan Degny, and the impressive Haitian youth international holding midfielder Julian Bretous.

That leaves a player with one of the greatest names in the club’s system, and the ability to back it up in Rocket Ritarita. Ritarita should get his second full year of competition with the 2s this year as a U-17 player. Like most of the players listed so far, he was a key part of the U-16 team that won the MLS NEXT Championship last Spring and has since gone on to earn international call-ups. Ritarita primarily plays as a wide attacking player but can tuck in to a central attacking role behind the #9 when needed. He alternated between being a #10 and a wing during the last year and half of academy competition. Long-term, he likely settles in to more of a wide role where he will be able to play a role similar to what Luke Brennan and Tyler Wolff offer the first team. He has enough speed and shiftiness to be competitive and enough passing vision and precision to create quality goal-scoring opportunities for his teammates. He is also confident enough to make his own chances by taking on his man from the edge of the box. He will be one to watch in 2024.

If the club does not sign another academy player to a Homegrown Player deal in 2024, the next signing could come from the college ranks. While that could be a contract similar to what Matthew Edwards signed with the 2s, we could also see an upperclassman brought back on a full Homegrown Player contract.

The strongest candidate for a Homegrown Player contract right now is Stanford’s central midfielder, Will Reilly. He took a gargantuan step forward between his second and third seasons in college and could be set for another jump heading into his senior season. Now playing as a box-to-box central midfielder who also is responsible for corner kicks, Reilly broke out for what may be his best season so far. Reilly has never been a player who flashed gaudy numbers on the stat sheet, doing the thankless word that goes unnoticed in the middle of the pitch. He is a tireless runner in press schemes, brings a metronomic energy to set and change his side’s tempo, and can make the kinds of passes that delight fans and coaches alike. Similarly to his former academy teammates listed above, Reilly worked his way into the starting 11 for Stanford in his freshman campaign and has never looked back. This year, Reilly started all 20 matches and helped his young and scrappy Stanford team outscore opponents by a combined score of 43-19. Reilly added 4 goals and 7 assists to that total and saved his best overall performance for Stanford’s signature win at top-ranked Marshall in the College Cup. After the Superdraft, Carlos Bocanegra confirmed that Reilly was one of the college players the club retained the rights to so there is every reason to believe he has a pathway back to Atlanta United alongside a young and impressive central midfield group.

If Atlanta could only choose one college midfielder other than Will Reilly to bring back, that other player would probably be the University of Virginia’s Brendan Lambe. Lambe, an Atlanta United 2 regular before departing for North Carolina FC, gradually worked his way into a crowded and experienced UVA midfield, playing 17 matches and making his first start on November 3rd in a highly competitive match against Syracuse that went to penalties. He started and played nearly the entire match against a veteran Florida International team in the cup in addition to another 60 minutes in a gritty 0-1 loss to Indiana in the next round. Lambe looks set to lead UVA’s midfield in 2024 and could become one of college soccer’s best midfielders by the 2026 season.

The most exciting junior in this year’s class is Northwestern’s centerback Nigel Prince. Like Garrison Tubbs, Prince has great size, mobility, and technical confidence with the ball at his feet. After earning First Team All-Big Ten Honors, Big Ten All-Tournament Team, and All-North Region Second Team honors in his second season, Atlanta United will have a lot to think about if he keeps up this level of performance for a third season.

Grant Howard impressed Atlanta United 2 fans with his brave and relentless defending in the summer of 2022 before leaving to play for an abysmally bad Hokies team. He logged a team-high 1,453 minutes in his first season alternating between centerback and fullback and followed that up in his second season with 1,361 minutes across 16 starts. It may be worth asking how beneficial Howard’s experience may be playing against superior attacking sides rather than being able to develop as part of a more organized group that is not constantly scrambling and throwing themselves about for heroic defensive plays. If he continues to show improvement despite the disparity of talent around him compared to opposing teams, he could see himself return on a prove-it deal with the 2s.

A fullback worth watching is Clemson’s Remi Okunlola. Okunlola played very well in limited appearances for the 2s last summer before taking his talents to Clemson alongside his fellow academy defender Mathieu Brick. The 2022 Gatorade Soccer Player of the Year in Georgia quickly worked his way into the Clemson rotation. He appeared in 15 matches and started 4, helping Clemson win the College Cup Final in his first season. From the fullback position, Okunlola found a lot of freedom to work on the flank, displaying his mobility and athleticism to create chances for himself and his teammates. He scored 2 goals and added 4 assists in 604 minutes, a goals-added/minutes ratio that should be making his coach and Atlanta United salivate for the player he could become in 2024 and beyond.

That wraps up our review of 10 talented academy prospects and products who could be the next to earn a professional contract with Atlanta United. This may have been the most challenging so far with so much talent coming through the system. With the 2s season right around the corner, we will have plenty of opportunities to follow these players and other young talent as they compete for the opportunity to begin their professional careers at their hometown club.

Which players are you most excited to see this season? Let us know in the comments below.