The Five Stripes have added to their midfield in a major way.
Atlanta United has traded the No. 23 overall pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft to D.C. United for midfielder Mateusz Klich. As part of the trade, D.C. will retain much of Klich’s budget charge for 2025, as well as his Designated Player status. The deal could also result in D.C. receiving $50,000 in GAM if Klich signs a new deal.
Steven Goff was the first to report the news on Thursday.
Klich, 34, plays primarily as a center midfielder and has been with the Black-and-Red since 2023 where he has 7 goals and 13 assists in 70 appearances. He is currently one of D.C. United’s Designated Players with a salary of $2.1m, so unless a significant amount of that stays on their books, he would have to become a DP in Atlanta should this move be finalized.
Before arriving in MLS, Klich played for Leeds United where he racked up 24 goals and 21 assists in 195 appearances. He has 41 caps for the Polish National Team where he has UEFA Nations League and European Championship experience.
With Klich in the fold, he would presumably start as the No. 8 in a midfield three with his compatriot Bartosz Slisz at the No. 6 and Alexey Miranchuk as the attacking midfielder. This would push Ajani Fortune back to being center midfield depth behind Klich.
What do you think of this trade? Let us know in the comments below.
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[…] United and apparently made them question their existence and relevance to the point they just gave Atlanta United Mateusz Klich for basically a couple of leftover French fries and a used roll of Flex Tape, all while making them […]
What does this move mean for Muyumba? He and Fortune were in the runnings to start at that 8 position but it feels like Klich would be a top runner for it instead. Depth? Redundancy? Not to say I do or don’t want Muyumba to go, but you have to wonder what this means.
I think Muyumba would become depth at the No.6 behind Slisz (that’s the position he has played through most of his career). Fortune is then depth behind Klich at the No.8
[…] on Atlanta United acquire midfielder Mateusz Klich from D.C. UnitedDecember 20, […]
[…] Atlanta United acquire midfielder Mateusz Klich from D.C. United […]
It’s wild to me that DC can use their DP slot on a player on our roster. It makes some sense in that they’re paying over the DP rate, but it also feels like a way for us to cheat the roster construction rules!
Chess not checkers! lol
Similar to our situation with Josef to Miami I’m guessing?
Yep. Hendo basically pulled the same maneuver.
[…] Atlanta United acquire midfielder Mateusz Klich from D.C. United […]
Losing out on a DP spot seems like a terrible move for dc. Hope it works out for us.
the deal looks better now since it is just a 1st round pick. And the $50K GAM, only if we end up signing him beyond 2025.
Accoding to an article in the Washington Post, the DP designation for Klich will stay with DC since they will be responcible for a “significant percentage of his earnings”. Can we assmue that means we would still have 2 DP spots avaiable to fill for this year?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/12/19/dc-united-mateusz-klich-trade/
Correct. Since Klich won’t require a DP slot, ATL still has 2 DP slots open.
Wow. That’s an amazing piece of business then. I was initially worried that we would sacrifice one of the open slots just to move a pretty nicely developing Fortune to the bench.
I’m not a big fan of pushing Fortune back onto the bench but we’ve seen him win the spot from an older and more expensive European player before.
The interesting part about this move is that unless we sign him to a new contract (very possible), Klich’s contract ends at the end of 2025. If he would be willing to add a year for a much lower deal that makes him a TAM player whose 2025 salary is partially covered by DC United, then that’s a good deal for us.
I also don’t mind us using the 23rd Overall pick on this kind of move. The team is in win-now mode and a late first-round pick is unlikely to immediately help with that.
Dax replacement with a significantly better player. Fortune can win time back as his backup and/or Alexey’s backup.
Fortune is versatile enough to get minutes anywhere in the midfield, or even on the wing
The best games I’ve seen Fortune play in MLS was as the CAM during the window where they hadn’t gotten Alexey yet and the other more veteran options were either hurt on on international duty. There was one game where he played better through balls than anyone since Miggy.
well so much for Atlanta building up the roster through the draft
We still have 2/3s of our picks (for now)
Tis but a flesh wound
[…] REPORT: Atlanta United in process of acquiring midfielder Mateusz Klich from D.C. United […]