As reported last week, this week wasn’t going to slow down for Atlanta United and their summer transfer window refresh. The club announced today that they’ve used their final 2025 buyout on center back Luis Abram.
The Peruvian center back is the latest in a long line of departures and additions within the past couple of weeks as Chris Henderson continues to aggressively modify the squad in an attempt to improve both the product on the pitch and the overall club culture. This move frees an international spot for Atlanta United, and clears off a rather large chunk of salary space in the realm of approximately $750,000. With the floated rumors of Steven Alzate from Hull City being a target of Ronny Deila’s, this buyout paves the way for a bit more freedom for either Alzate or any other potential incoming players.
Luis Abram joined the team back in January of 2023 from Granada C.F. He was most often used on his stronger left side, but was often gone for international duty with Peru during times when many others on the backline were missing, as well.
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Let us know down below what you think of the move!
This is good. We were taking a nearly $900k cap hit for a $300k player. Even better that it’s to make way for Alzate. This season has been a disaster, but Henderson is making the kind of moves I was hoping for this summer.
I still think we need a LW, and it’s probably at the expense of Saba. Miggy seems to be working at RW now. He and Miranchuk aren’t running in each other’s space nearly as often, and I think he actually pairs better with Hernandez. Lennon seems to crowd him and based on his pass selection in games, I’m not sure Miggy views passes to Lennon as a good value play. I’m still not sold on Miranchuk at CAM. His pace just seems to be such a limiting factor in both our ability to press and to counter. However, I thought he brought a different level of intensity and physicality on Saturday.
This season is shot, but maybe these new pieces combined with our entrenched and pricey attack give us some momentum going into 2026. There’s still some moves to be made over the winter (previously mentioned LW, and do something at RB).
I think this move had to happen to offload another bad contract/price point. He did bring heart and drive, he pushed forward, it wasn’t like he was a bad option but i’m thinking there is a need for destroyer type CB’s and I wouldn’t say he was that.
Good riddance. But, he was coming off the books in Dec anyway. What is the point of buying him out now?
Likely due to practical reasons related to doing whatever is necessary to make space for the moves we want to make now from a roster rules standpoint.
It’s not like it cost us that much.
Needed to happen. I expect Gregersen and/or Williams to also transition off the roster in the next 6-12 months.
That said, it would be nice to have not jettisoned Morales and Cobb if we are only going to have Mihaj and maybe Berrocal when this is all said and done. I don’t think Kaiden Moore will be ready to play meaningful backup minutes next season, and Nigel Prince will be working his way up to speed from NCAA to MLS. Hopefully, Colorado chooses not to exercise Cobb’s purchase clause so we can keep him for at least another year.
The tough thing is I rate a healthy Gregersen. Its crazy on paper his guaranteed salary was only $50k higher than Abram at 920k.
I would prefer to keep Gregersen longer over Williams, but Williams is at $500k, a number that makes more sense for a backup.
A Mihaij, Gregersen, Berrocal lineup could be really interesting if they all gel, with Williams and Cobb (potentially) off the bench.
I guess we can draft a CB too, but this feels like they are hoping to get a read on some fresh talent and reevaluate over winter.
The tricky part about Gregersen is the added hit from his amortized transfer fee, which puts him close to $1.4 million this year. If he were able to play the minutes befitting such a price point, I would have no problem. Unfortunately, he has struggled to remain available for selection. At that cap hit, it is devastating for a team in a league with spending restrictions.
Interestingly enough, to your point about drafting a centerback, we drafted two defenders this past SuperDraft, but Wynne was the only one who participated in camp. The Norwegian centerback we drafted from the University of Maryland didn’t seem to ever feature at camp. I think we will be getting a free late first-round pick in the form of Nigel Prince returning as a homegrown player in December.
I guess over the last third of this season we can see if Stian stays healthy, and also evaluate a potential permanent move for Berrocal.
Mihaj passed the early eye test, so if we do sign Berrocal permanently, it will certainly be hard to justify keeping Gregersen.
Berrocal is on loan through next summer, so we will have plenty of time to evaluate him.
If I am Nigel Prince, I look at the recent history of academy CBs and question the logic of signing with Atlanta United instead of remaining in the draft.
I think he’d actually benefit from signing with us. Players want to advance in their careers and we can certainly say the Campbell, Tubbs, Morales, and to some degree, Cobb have been given great opportunities to do that with other teams rather than get buried behind Mehij and whoever is next to him long-term.
I’m guessing they get to the end of the season before moving Gregerson. His cap hit is just so limiting. Maybe if he was playing 2800 min a season, you can justify it, but he’s never really been that guy. He does bring a lot of positives when he does play, but he also takes some wild risks that I don’t love (his latest was trying to win that aerial vs Seattle without any real cover behind him, that led to a goal for them).
Williams just goes away unless they pick up his option, right? That could be an insurance play if we can’t get a better 3rd CB on a team-friendly contract.
As much as I would love to see Cobb playing for Atlanta, if Colorado doesn’t pick him up, then he’s probably not going to be starting quality.
To be fair, depends on the purchase cost we set (I don’t know what it is). There exists a price point over which it’s possible for him to still be worth playing and not worth Colorado picking up, though I imagine that number is hard to get right and still have the loan deal accepted.
Colorado was already in search of a starting caliber CB prior to Cobb so i’m guessing Cobb was a backup reinforcement while they finish the season. The hope is he comes back and becomes one of our backups.
Needed to happen. As we’ve all said, we were paying a starter salary to a backup. He played with passion and pride, but he was never starter quality for us. I can only hope the next announcement is the Alzate signing now
Especially overvalued considering he was always away on international duty, too.
I guess this also opens up an international slot for Alzate?
[…] Atlanta United use last 2025 buyout on Luis Abram […]
He has his redeeming qualities, but thank goodness we’re finally moving on from him.