I would like to introduce you to my nominee for Atlanta United’s Breakout Player of the Year. While more attention will go to Caleb Wiley’s big transfer to Europe, Homegrown Player Ajani Fortune transformed from a predominantly reserve role with a lot left to prove into a vocal, visible leader and starter for the Atlanta United team that knocked Lionel Messi out of the MLS Playoffs.
But why listen to me when you can hear it from Jay:
Stats
Matches Played/Started: 27/13
Minutes: 1298
Goals: 1
Assists: 2
What went right?
Coaches often talk about the “next man up” mentality, where each player is ready to claim their moment when it arrives. That is what this summer was for Fortune. As injuries, international competitions, and eventually a coaching change fundamentally altered the roster, Fortune found himself at the heart of a midfield in flux. This was a struggling team searching for wins or something they could build on. Fortune showed maturity beyond his years in rising to the moment, learning from mistakes, and moving on to the next challenge. You rarely saw him rattled, and you never saw him give up. By battling through this season’s adversity and embodying Coach Rob Valentino’s “FEA” mantra, Fortune became a clear starter for this roster, an emerging leader and face of the club, and an important part of the team that upset the best-ever MLS side.
What to improve on?
Consistency, consistency, consistency.
Part of learning and growing as a player is being able to repeat consistent performances from match to match and from minute to minute. Fortune needs more playing time, a great coach, and experienced mentors to learn from in practice. While the club had him focusing more on the attacking side of his box-to-box double pivot this season, he has the tools to be a reliable defensive presence in the midfield. The key will be to confidently showcase both parts of his game equally rather than being limited to just one. If he can be a more well-rounded central midfielder, his next contract with Atlanta (or an overseas team) will be significantly more than his current Homegrown salary.
What role will he play in 2025?
Atlanta United has a lot of questions about their roster to answer this offseason. Having a talented and confident young central midfielder under contract will feel like a luxury to the incoming General Manager and Head Coach. Like every player on the roster, Fortune will enter this preseason with a new boss to impress and a starting job to win. Having watched his development from academy prospect to regular 2s starter to outright professional and international player, I believe that Fortune has the tools, toughness, and mindset to win a starting central midfield spot to begin the 2025 season.
Overall Grade: A-
[…] our season review of Jay Fortune, we talked about the importance of the “Next Man Up” mentality for young players and […]
I’m pretty high on him. Thought he was fantastic the 2nd half of the year. Young Nagbe vibes.
He could be our future captain if he wanted to stay here into his prime. His age-22 season in 2025 will play a big part in determining his role with us and the Trinidad & Tobago national team attempting to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
fortune is the player who imo took the biggest step forward this season…which is even more of credit to him in my mind because of the high level of noise and below-averageness the club experienced almost all season.
hear my out FO….
sign jonathan
convince james that his european dreams are toast and he can ball out in mls (admittedly heavy lift)
that makes a front 5 of jonathan, miranchuk, saba and james, with fortune behind james
that would be a topflight front 5 in mls, and then you just have to solve the back line and dmid
maybe a manager like rueda could convince james? not sure rueda would leave honduras but i have to believe uncle arthur could write a much bigger check than honduras is.
I completely agree about his taking a massive step forward despite the overall quality of the club. I think having an unstable team gave him his opportunity to play, make mistakes, and become a viable option for next year’s starting 11.
I would say that other than finding a backup left-back and who can fill in for Lennon until he is fully healthy, I don’t have many concerns about the defensive group or the goalkeepers. Adding a veteran defensive midfielder with plenty left in the tank should be as big of a priority for us as building our new CF group from scratch.
I’m not so high on him. To me, just average. Needs to improve his passing and ball control. IMHO, He definitely improved but not more than a C+
Your critique on passing and ball control is true and I think will be something he works on in the preseason. I don’t agree with your grade for him or your overall perception of him as a player, but I think we can both agree that there is room for him to grow.
The last time we had a yiung prospect player develop this much in a season, we had to sell them to Toronto because of roster mismanagement. I hope Jay gets to be in Atlanta at least a few more years!
Honestly him leaving will be totally his choice. He’s a quality homegrown player and doesn’t take up an international slot; any GM in the league should be fired immediately if they mess that up.
That’s the beauty of having quality homegrown players who can contribute early and often. Wiley and Fortune made a massive impact for the team, especially when considering they didn’t count one penny against our cap. It is almost like how Amador vastly overperformed the small salary he was on for 2024. He will likely want his next contract to more closely reflect his on-field contribution.
Based on Gressel’s interview on Dax’s podcast a few weeks ago, this disparity between salary and value-added on the field was a big reason why he left Atlanta. The club was unwilling to give him the raise he thought was market value for what he was contributing. The club wanted to continue to treat him and pay him like a drafted rookie.