The latest episode of Rooted in the Stripes implied that the Five Stripes were working on bringing in a left-sided center back to pair with new right center back Enea Mihaj. They now officially have their man.
Atlanta United announced on Friday that it has acquired Spanish center back Juan Berrocal on loan from LaLiga’s Getafe. His loan lasts until June 30, 2026, and includes a purchase option. He will require an international slot.
Berrocal, 26, has spent his entire career in Spain bouncing between various clubs, mainly in LaLiga 2, before joining Getafe ahead of the 2024-25 LaLiga season, where he played 21 games for the club.
After Mihaj, Berrocal is Atlanta United’s second addition of the MLS secondary transfer window, with more moves likely on the way. The window opened on Thursday, July 24 and will remain open until Thursday, August 21.
What do you think of this new signing? Let us know in the comments below.
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Holy crap, Atlanta is sending Noah Cobb on loan to Colorado with a purchase option at the end of the season…
Yeah, just saw? I’m curious what the end goal is. I like it marginally better than the Morales deal.
I guess I just would love to see these kids become stars here, not elsewhere in mls. I don’t know how realistic that idea is.
Finally, we get the Nagbe replacement
Sarcasm? Genuine question
Berrocal is a CB, not a CM…
Assuming he’s thinking of Alzate, I would still consider him the Big Red replacement, not the Nagbe replacement. His numbers suggest he’s not super press resistant, though he’s got decent dribbling numbers. What he has (when he’s tasked with it) is pretty strong defending numbers.
It’s good to see them acknowledge that the defense is terrible and needs new blood. On paper, it seems that neither Mihaj nor Berrocal may be better than Gregersen (or even LGP)… so I guess we will see if this is just a continuation of the trend of ATL replacing players with worse players.
I mean, I’ll take that level defender (assuming they don’t get as injured as Gregersen), even though I wasn’t particularly convinced by Gregersen even when he did play. But it’s still better than Abram/Franco/Purata/Meza
I agree.
Time will tell if these players are actually upgrades. But I do think the FO is “correct” here in the sense that the defensive core hasnt really seen any significant investment outside of an oft-injured Gregersen.
I still think its a shame that we had to sell Morales to make this work. But I do think everyone in midfield and attack will function better with better defenders in place.
Would also like to see us get the guy who played for Deila over the line too.
I do like that Berrocal is strong with both feet, so we can basically put him anywhere in a 3 CB set or a 2 CB set
Is Gregersen next one out? He’s always injured.
I no longer get excited about new signings, I just simply say “Let’s wait and see”.
Trying to remain positive because negativity helps no one. But i’d be lying if I didn’t think some changes need to be made and the product on the field improved.
Maybe he will be good or maybe he will follow the latest signings of this FO/scouting department and disappoint.
My only thought is that at least we realize our defense is porous and needs new bodies. But I agree, who knows if this guy will be a problem solver or problem creator.
Chris Henderson became the head of our FO in December 2024, so very few data points in his signing efforts during his tenure. This is actually in first transfer window with really information from the current squad. Although I guess if had enough info during the winter transfer window.