How does Atlanta United build a competitive roster this offseason?

The offseason is here and with it the prospect of exciting transfer rumors and dreams of an exciting 2025 season with all of the moves this club is surely bound to make.

With the official announcement of former Seattle Sounders Technical Director and Inter Miami CF Chief Soccer Officer Chris Henderson as Atlanta United’s new sporting director, the club now has someone with experience succeeding in MLS to help construct the roster ahead of next season.

There is still an elephant in the room with the head coach still unknown, but I expect that to be ironed out real soon. In the meantime, let’s look at the state of the roster to discern which areas need the most strengthening and what qualities Atlanta United could be looking for in those positions.

Here is the depth chart of Atlanta United’s roster as of Dec. 16, 2024. This accounts for the club’s recent roster decisions to pick up or decline options. It also includes two new players, Ashton Gordon and Adyn Torres, who join the first team on homegrown contracts starting Jan. 1, 2025. Also, the ratings associated with each player are my personal opinion and not tied to any hard metric. If I rated your favorite player too low, please let me know in the comments and I will beg on my knees for your forgiveness.

So looking at the depth chart, here are some areas that stand out to me as the most urgent to address:

• Striker
• Attacking midfielder
• Defensive midfielder
• Left Winger
• Left Back

Now let’s break these down individually and see what kind of players the Five Stripes could most use at these positions.

Striker

With Daniel Rios’ loan expiring, Atlanta United now must rebuild its striker corps. It seems highly likely at this point that one of the club’s two open designated player slots will go to a starting striker. Over the summer, it was rumored that the club was going to sign AS Roma’s Eldor Shomurodov, but the move never materialized. There have also been reports of the club making a $15.8 million offer for Benfica’s Arthur Cabral, but it seems the Portuguese giant wants closer to $21 million.

There are a couple of different ways that Atlanta United could go in terms of the profile of strikers they decide to sign: they could go for a big, target forward like Giorgos Giakoumakis, who can check back and help the team build forward by holding up play for his team to progress, or someone more mobile and versatile like Josef Martinez. It would make sense for the club to go for a No. 9 that can pose a significant aerial threat given the outstanding crossing quality from both Amador and Lennon on either side, but the club is likely looking for a bit more from its starting striker.

When Garth Lagerwey spoke to media after Atlanta United announced its end-of-year roster moves, he discussed how the club needed to bring in attacking players that would make the most of Miranchuk’s passing. More specifically, he addressed wanting to bring in fast players that will run at back lines to attack balls played in behind. This season, the team was 21st in the league in completed through balls (32), which could be an indicator of a few different things: either the through balls being played aren’t great, not enough through balls are being played or the players that are supposed to get on the end of those through balls aren’t. I think it’s mostly that last one.

Finally, the ideal striker is good with his feet and can mostly hold his own in 1v1 duels. Someone whose first touch is consistently reliable and who can intelligently use his skill to open space for a shot or key pass in or around the box. Again, this is something that Atlanta hasn’t had since… well… since Josef.

At first glance, Cabral seems to check all of these boxes and more, which explains why Atlanta United reportedly made an offer for him. Now the question is does the club believe that’s worth over $20 million or will they try to look for someone similar who comes at a slightly lower price tag?

Attacking Midfielder

Good news! Atlanta United already has its starting No. 10 in Alexey Miranchuk, so that makes talking about the qualities they are looking for much easier. Even though the Russian international didn’t quite have the effect that most fans were hoping for, he showed a few encouraging signs…chiefly his patience on the ball and some very good passing. Of course, he’ll have to step it up in 2025 where expectations are going to be much higher given the full preseason he will have and what I assume will be a more robust roster.

Now that the club has declined Nick Firmino’s option, the squad needs at least one backup at the position to cover for when Miranchuk isn’t available. The Russian National Team has been calling him up recently, so don’t be surprised if he is absent during future international breaks.

So what do you need in a backup No. 10? Well, you certainly want to get as close to Miranchuk’s passing ability as possible so as not to disrupt the dynamic that the other players will be expecting. This means someone who can identify space behind lines and play balls to teammates running in.

You also want someone comfortable operating under pressure in tight spaces. One of the functions of a No. 10 that can sometimes go unnoticed is opening space for teammates when opposing defenders go to press them. This allows those teammates (mostly forwards) to have better scoring chances as they have fewer obstacles to worry about. This backup No. 10, whoever it may be, will likely find themselves under intense pressure, but they must be able to handle it well and use it to their advantage.

One last attribute that the backup attacking midfielder should have is good set-piece delivery. Dead balls are sometimes the best chances a team gets in a game and they should be taken advantage of as much as possible, but Atlanta United didn’t do that this season. They scored just three – THREE – non-penalty set-piece goals this season. That was the second-lowest in the league just above New England Revolution’s one. Although you have at least a handful of other set-piece takers on the team, having someone who is both a good crosser and a direct free kick menace can really come in handy.

Defensive Midfielder

Behind every stellar midfield is a trustworthy No. 6. It’s a funny position because if you don’t have to talk about the player much, it probably means they are doing their job well. In Atlanta’s case, Bartosz Slisz really wasn’t the topic of much conversation beyond his penalty misses in Leagues Cup (which he more than made up for with his game-winning goal against Inter Miami in Game 3 of the First round of the MLS Cup Playoffs).

Now, there are a couple of ways that you could look at the No. 6 position right now: either Bartosz Slisz is your starter and you would just need to add some depth behind him or – perhaps a bit hot take-y – maybe you see him as more of an eight. Let me explain.

In the two months between Thiago Almada’s departure and Alexey Miranchuk’s debut, Atlanta United was without a starting-quality No. 10. This prompted Interim Head Coach Rob Valentino to change the midfield a bit and deploy Slisz as a No. 8 – a box to box midfielder who played more of a role in chance creation. This little experiment went well as the Polish midfielder racked up 19 key passes, 18 passes into the penalty area and 64 shot-creating actions. Slisz handles pressure well and passes well, both attributes of a good No. 8 and I think the team could benefit from having him in that position. If the team does decide to play Slisz in the box-to-box role, that would mean going out and rebuilding the No. 6 position from scratch: a new starter and probably a depth piece or two.

Atlanta’s defensive midfielder should have two main attributes: accurate passing and a love of being the bully on the playground. This person should be the destroyer in the middle of the field who will unleash the wrath of 1000 suns on anyone who dares to come within 30 feet of the goal. Someone who is committed when they tackle and can be counted on to win the ball back easily and send their team on the way to a promising attack.

On the passing side of things, I’m looking at both long and short passing. We’ve already talked about Atlanta United looking at pacey attackers, which includes fast wingers. This presents an opportunity for the defensive midfielder to link up with those wingers with accurate long balls from deep in midfield. Furthermore, much like anyone else in the midfield, the No. 6 has to be able to handle pressure and think quickly to move the ball forward through the opposing press using their dribbling and short passing.

Left Winger

Put plainly, Atlanta United’s left wing this year was nowhere near what we expected it to be before the season started. After his electric arrival last summer, many were expecting Xande Silva to continue his momentum into 2024, but he ended with just two goals and an assist. The team needs a better presence at left wing next season to round out the attack and make it truly competitive.

At the bare minimum, the Five Stripes need a starting left winger and an additional depth piece. If the rumors linking Edwin Mosquera to a move back to Colombia are to be believed, they may also need someone on the right behind Saba Lobjanidze. While not confirmed, it is believed that the Five Stripes will use its other open DP slot on a Left Winger. There were reports in the summer of the club going for Ajax’s Steven Bergwijn, but the Dutch giants were asking for more than Atlanta was willing to pay. More recent rumors have surfaced of the club’s interest in Celtic’s Luis Palma.

Just like with the strikers, we can expect the wingers to be fast and capable of running onto balls played behind backlines. The club is likely also going to be looking at the player’s ability to dribble past defenders and use skill to get away from pressure. It should go without saying, but the wingers that this team signs must be able to put shots on target. In case it isn’t clear, the target is the goal and not section 101 row 21 seat 13.

Although Lagerwey did say that U22 slots would likely not be a focus of this window, I would not be surprised if Henderson makes a U22 signing in this position for depth.

Left Back

Y’all remember when we thought Pedro Amador was just going to be depth? Dude clearly had other plans.

With the Portuguese fullback grabbing onto the starting left back role following Caleb Wiley’s departure and refusing to let go, the club really only needs to add depth. The good news is that Ronald Hernandez has re-signed, but the bad news is that he will likely be stuck covering on the right side for the first month or so of 2025 while Brooks Lennon finishes recovering from his shoulder injury. This leaves just Matt Edwards to cover both fullback positions and I don’t think that’s tenable for a team that wants to compete across multiple different competitions next season. I think there will be at least one left back signing to strengthen that area.

Two characteristics I think Atlanta United is going to want in its backup left back is good crossing and a willingness to go forward and be an active part of the team’s attacking play. Since the team tends to play wide, it relies heavily on its wingers and fullbacks to find ways to move the ball forward and inside to create scoring chances. Part of this includes fullbacks making overlapping/underlapping runs to receive passes between the lines from midfielders or wingers.

As of right now, there aren’t any rumors of signings for this position.

Which position do you think needs the most work and what players would you like to see the club sign? Let me know in the comments below.