Atlanta United is still searching for a top striker, but it announced an important depth move as it signed Cayman Togashi to a one-year deal with an option for a second. Togashi, born in New York City but raised in Japan, won’t require an international slot.
“With the amount of games and competitions that we are in, depth at the forward position is always something we need,” Chief Soccer Officer Chris Henderson said in a statement. “We feel that Cayman will fit in nicely with our group of forwards.”
Togashi, who joins Atlanta on a free transfer, last played for Sagan Tosu, where he posted 2g/2a through 39 matches across all competitions in 2023-24 after scoring 5 times in 23 matches in 2022-23. His prior stops were with Vegalta Sendai, V-Varen Nagasaki, Machida Zelvia, and Yokohama F. Marinos, with a loan to FC Tokyo in 2018.
Depth to help Atlanta United during the various competitions it’s set to play has been an explicit point of discussion raised by both Henderson — who noted that the club had been monitoring Togashi for “the past few months” and Garth Lagerwey. And with Togashi counting as a domestic player, he’ll be available to train with the team immediately as preseason opens in just a matter of days.
In short, it’s not the Japanese forward Atlanta United fans were hoping would be announced, but Togashi will at least fill an area of need.
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Depth at forward is a huge need for this club, something we (clearly) needed this previous season. He looks better on the ball, based on the clips I saw, than Rios or Jamal were so that should be an improvement.
The response from our fans on IG and FB has been embarrassing though. Too many people are chomping at the bit with getting our DP striker, that takes time.
It does take time and we as fans dont have many options other than to trust the process, but there is an opportunity cost in the form of fan apathy.
I dont have much else to say other than I cant believe how poorly the club was run roughly 3-5 years ago. Its been a very slow climb out of that hole.
That’s the real story line here, those years of being poorly run. Bad signings, decisions, mistakes, etc. Granted we’re all human but man, some of those were just bad. Which is why rushing into things isn’t the right move right now. That’s what happened in 2020 through 2023 and we all know where that lead to.
This is not the droid I was looking for.
MAYBE someone let news slip about the staring striker:
https://thecelticstar.com/celtic-transfer-mystery-as-mls-announce-kyogo-to-atlanta/
Maybe so. Seems unlikely the article was written completely as a pipe dream, though that’s possible. The near-immediate pull of the article tells me it was either a “oh crap I accidentally posted this draft” or “whoops, I wasn’t authorized to post that yet.”
Hoping it is the latter.
Not a bad signing for likely our 3rd-string center forward. Since he was born in the US, he won’t take up an international slot. He is also signed to a 1 year (plus 1 option) contract as a Supplemental Roster player who is likely being paid close to the veteran minimum so he will not count against the cap. If he can be a good teammate and competitor in training and offer slightly above-average performances in the few cameos he will probably get, that’s a successful deal for everyone involved.
His main competition for whether his option is renewed is the much younger Rodrigo Neri (currently on the 2s) who also has his eyes set on a senior CF spot.
curious how cheap/expensive he was
He is on the Supplemental Roster so he will probably be around the veteran minimum and will not impact the cap.
The stats don’t wow me, but hopefully the analytics department sees something in him beyond that. First time I’ve ever heard of him, so WDIK?
He’s basically the Rios replacement so I don’t think we are expecting massive stats from him in what is essentially a prove-it year with us.
I don’t put much into stats from other leagues, they don’t operate the same way MLS does and don’t always translate to the same form of play. but the clips of him playing show me he’s got a left and a right foot instead of 2 of the same, meaning he’s a forward that can always dribble and move around instead of just standing waiting for a cross.
He can be buddies why Kyogo once he’s signed 😉
That presumes he’s any good.
So Tommy’s new favorite striker?
Guessing this means the one we really want isn’t gonna happen
Not sure the FO is going to take the time to create a teaser for a depth piece.
Hopefully, a Kyogo signing is going to be announced soon.
I think the teaser makes a lot of sense for this guy. He was born in New York which is what you see at the beginning of the video before moving to Japan which we see at the end of the video. Considering it looks like an AI-generated video, I don’t think it was too heavy of a lift for them.