There’s plenty of talk surrounding Atlanta United’s interest in Emmanuel Latte Lath, but another striker has reportedly emerged as a possibility.
According to Turkish sports journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu, Atlanta are interested in Basaksehir’s Krzysztof Piatek, who has been with the Istanbul-based club since 2023 and has logged 40 goals for them since his arrival. And he looks to be in the form of his career, totaling an outstanding 23 goals in 31 matches across all competitions this season — including 13 goals in 18 league appearances and 5 goals in 6 UEFA Conference League showings.
Reports out of Polish outlet Meczyki on Monday initially stated that an unnamed MLS club had already made a €10M ($10.25M) offer for the services of Piatek, and by all accounts, that appears to have been Atlanta based on Sabuncuoglu’s reporting.
Piatek came to Turkey after a slow spell in the Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin, where he managed just 12g/4a in 3 seasons. He spent part of 2021-22 on loan at Fiorentina and saw a season-long loan to Salernitana in 2022-23, scoring 10 goals in 51 matches between the two clubs. Before Hertha, he scored 19 goals in all competitions in 18 matches with Genoa in 2018, leading to a midseason transfer to AC Milan, where he scored 11 goals to finish out the campaign and 5 goals in 18 matches in 2019 before moving to Germany during the 2020 transfer window.
Piatek’s professional career began in Poland’s third division in 2012-13. He then spent three-and-a-half seasons with Zaglebie Lubin before a transfer to Cracovia in September 2016, where he scored 32 goals across 2 seasons and 65 total appearances.
Piatek certainly wouldn’t feel out of place in Atlanta with countrymen Bartosz Slisz and Mateusz Klich in the fold. And Atlanta’s front office has had exposure to the Turkish market as Saba Lobjanidze came over after two seasons at Hatayspor. While discussion has centered around Latte Lath — and, to a lesser extent, Odsonne Edouard — Piatek could for an intriguing (and more affordable) possibility to lead Atlanta’s line.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
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Mainly unrelated, but The Athletic reported this morning that MLS clubs may now exercise 2 contract buyouts/year, up from 1 in previous years. My first choice would be Tristan Muyamba. We can let him go for nothing IMO. My second choice would be Luis Abram, but only if we have to do it to get him on a lower salary and we already have an agreement with him to that effect.
What do you think?
[…] Report: Atlanta United interested in Basaksehir striker Krzysztof Piatek […]
And Boro have now responded and are in talks re: LL.
Not really. Any competent business will be negotiating solutions from multiple vendors simultaneously. When they get to ink on paper the other deals fall off the board.
I think Latte Lath is the preferred choice, but Boro has a number of reasons to not accept that bid. This is a quality alternative and would retain the “bags of cash” for a potential left winger.
I would agree, if only because we are offering more money for Latte.
I appreciate the more reasonable price tag on Piatek, but with the bag of cash the club has from sales over the last twelve months and the limited ability to spread it around the roster the larger price of Lath shouldn’t be an issue if they decide to go that route.
Just close a deal soon so we can actually get an important player eligible in time for the very important start of the season where we are heavy on home matches.
MLS transfer window doesn’t open till 1/31, so it will be a tight window to get them eligible to start the season. I don’t understand why the winter transfer window opens after MLS teams start their preseason…
Yeah, and the one day transfer window in December doesn’t align with Europe, which also doesn’t make sense. MLS gonna MLS.
Is the MLS so arrogant that they expect other leagues to eventually align with them rather than the other way around?
I’m being a bit facetious there, but I can’t think of a good reason why MLS doesn’t align with the rest of the world on transfer windows and such, particularly the leagues they’d love to be as good as one day.
I don’t think they are arrogant. It would be really hard to play to fall/spring schedule in the US because out winter weather is so much more extreme than in Europe, and you don’t want your primary transfer window to be in the middle of a campaign.
Keep raising the roster spending and make MLS a top 5 league in the world to solve these problems!
[…] Report: Atlanta United interested in Basaksehir striker Krzysztof Piatek […]
Having that Polish connection up top would be great! That, and he’s a quality striker at a bargain compared to Latte. While I would be happy with either, the polish striker here may be a better team fit
My gut reaction agrees with you. Just because we have money doesn’t mean we need to be reckless with it. Get someone to fit the bill and is a quality producer, not just someone with a high price tag.
Saba is the perfect example of the right guy at a reasonable price.
Saba is a machine. Xande was when we first got him, then his work rate fell off. I was very impressed with our winger ops until Xande decided to regress.
I think he was injured. Had a nagging foot injury for quite a while