Atlanta United 2 resets for 2026
Shortly after Atlanta United announced its end-of-season roster moves, Atlanta United 2 announced that eight players from the 2025 team will return in 2026.
James Donaldson, Arif Kovac, Toto Majub, Jonathan Ransom, Santiago Pita, and Ignacio Suarez-Couri remain under contract for the 2026 season, and Tablante and Weah re-signed MLS NEXT Pro contracts for 2026, both with a club option for 2027. Jonathan Ransom will join this group as a 2s signing in January on a season-long contract before being automatically promoted to a Homegrown Player in 2027. He joins Donaldson as the second academy goalkeeper to sign with the 2s this year.
Despite his late-season transformation as a right wingback, Ryan Carmichael’s contract option was declined. So was that of Sal Mazzaferro, who anchored the 2s backline for most of the season and even got a few minutes with the MLS side at the end of the season. Despite his strong preseason and consistent play at centerback in 2025, SuperDraft pick Ronan Wynne’s option was declined. Rodrigo Neri’s time in Atlanta also comes to an end as his option was also declined. Nyk Sessock also had his contract option with the first team declined after receiving a midseason promotion.
Fan favorite and team leader Javier Armas is out of contract after spending the last two seasons with the 2s. He was Atlanta United’s second-round pick in the 2024 SuperDraft.
Kaiden Moore returns from his short loan with Philadelphia Union II. He will automatically become a Homegrown Player in January. Adyn Torres will also join the First Team roster after his loan to the 2s expires next month.
These moves come as the club seeks to build on a strong second half of the season under Interim Head Coach Jose Silva. Silva’s switch to a dynamic 3-4-2-1 that saw the players playing freely and fluidly. In many ways, the 2s looked better and more entertaining than the first team. At the end of the season, Chris Henderson praised the growth of the youngsters and hinted that the 2s could get even younger in 2026. After climbing their way into the MLS NEXT PRO play-off hunt on the final day of the season, the players and staff of Atlanta United 2 likely have a healthy amount of optimism about the 2026 season.
Atlanta United 2 Roster Moves:
Under Contract for 2026 (8): James Donaldson, Arif Kovac, Toto Majub, Jonathan Ransom, Santiago Pita, Ignacio Suarez-Couri, Moises Tablante, Patrick Weah
Club Option Declined (4): Ryan Carmichael, Sal Mazzaferro, Rodrigo Neri, Ronan Wynne
Out of Contract (1): Javier Armas
Homegrown Contract in 2026 (1): Kaiden Moore
While the roster may look pretty thin right now, there will likely be several signings from the academy in the next couple of months from the young talent that powered this team at the end of the season. Gabriel Wesseh, DD Sibrian, and Santiago Suarez could all return in 2026 as professionals. We also have two draft picks this year, including the 2nd overall pick, and a handful of talented college prospects who could be perfect fits for this roster.
Let us know who you are excited to see return and who you are disappointed to see go.
thanks for update grey. always a ton of turnover on this squad, but i’m glad to see a pretty impressive core to build the next roster from.
and here’s hoping that a few years down the road, ransom can be our second young keeper that we actually develop into a first teamer. i am really excited about hibbert. seeing a young keeper develop into a first team starter in this organization has been a long time coming, and hibbert has a load of talent.
now, if we can just stop getting rid of all our young center backs…
Thanks! Something I’d add to your constructive feedback about keeping young centerbacks is the need to also draft players who we are capable of rostering on the first team without worrying about international roster slots. That has been a huge issue for us since our second draft and will remain so until either we are more intentional with our draft selections or the league changes its rules on who is counted as an international player and who is not. (Homegrown Players are not counted as internationals)
100% agree. the usage of the draft has been well below par for us in recent years. i get that you’re not going to change your roster overnight with a draft, but you’re point about being strategic in how you can use the draft build constructively is spot on. i think it’s clear that it hasn’t been much of a focus in recent years.
also excited to see how tata uses youth this time around. i mentioned it in another thread, but first time here he basically wanted nothing to do with young players. however, there was a real sea change in miami has incorporated lots of youth (even teenagers) into his rotation and even starting minutes. i am hoping to see that kind of commitment/development here this time.