Atlanta United commenced its roster shake-up ahead of the 2026 MLS season by announcing its year-end roster decisions on Tuesday.
A total of 11 contracts were set to expire in December, giving Chief Soccer Officer Chris Henderson and new Head Coach Tata Martino some choices to make about which players could be building blocks for the new project and who was surplus.
The big headliner is right back Brooks Lennon, whose contract option was not exercised, making him a free agent. Lennon, the club’s all-time assists leader (40), departs after a disappointing 2025 campaign, where he only managed a goal and three helpers in 25 regular season appearances.
Fellow right back Ronald Hernández also had his option declined, but he remains in negotiations with the club over a new contract. If he is not signed to a new contract, he will be eligible for free agency. The 28-year-old Venezuelan international started 19 games across all competitions in 2025, finding more starting minutes as he passed Lennon on the depth chart around midseason.
It’s almost a full reset for the goalkeeping department as Brad Guzan retires and Josh Cohen’s option is declined. Cohen, 33, played eight games for the Five Stripes across all competitions in 2024, conceding 10 goals and keeping three clean sheets. He did not make any first team appearances in 2025 after 21-year-old Jayden Hibbert, whose contract option was picked up, impressed in his nine starts.
Winger Leo Afonso and fullback Nyk Sessock were the other two players whose options were declined. Both were signed in the summer to fill holes left in the roster by injuries and outgoing transactions. Neither ended up playing significant minutes.
Meanwhile, all of the homegrowns who were on expiring contracts have had their options picked up, including fullback Matthew Edwards and midfielders Jay Fortune and Will Reilly.
Finally, the club picked up options for Jamal Thiaré and Cayman Togashi, preserving Atlanta’s center forward contingent heading into 2026.
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Contract options exercised (6)
- Matthew Edwards (D)
- Jay Fortune (M)
- Jayden Hibbert (GK)
- Will Reilly (M)
- Jamal Thiaré (F)
- Cayman Togashi (F)
Contract options declined (4)
- Leo Afonso (F)
- Josh Cohen (GK)
- Brooks Lennon (D)
- Nyk Sessock (D)
In negotiations (1)
- Ronald Hernández (D)
What are your thoughts on these roster decisions? Let us know in the comments below.
[…] Atlanta United announces 2025 year-end roster moves […]
Why keep Thiare on that huge salary (for a back-up)? Brooks needed to go. I hope he lands on a winning team.
maybe Tata is planning on starting Thiare and Latte together up top.
Well, if they’re planning on selling/trading players keeping someone like him around may be advantageous. It’s clear they need to move on from some players and they’re trying not to go the buy-out route so maybe this gets them something for the pocket book.
I’d like to think Muyumba is in that camp too because dude either needs a solid coach or to be bounced…something is definitely up with him.
Best of luck to all the players that were declined. It’s got to be hard as an athlete to not be retained in these situations. I thank them all for being here and giving it their all for us, even if it didn’t work in the end (especially Lennon who was here for a very got bit and holds a record for our club) – best of luck and Godspeed to all of them.
Why trade for Afonso and then give him scraps for minutes? I like his pressing attack and the striker position was obviously lacking last year.
I believe he was a throw-in for another transaction; cash and an international spot?
I would have liked to have Lennon still on the team in 2026. He became a favorite player of mine with his high work rate and abilities to get up and down the field and deliver good passes and crosses. Tata mentioned the importance of having some American veterans in addition to the South American players he wants to add to the team. I’m sorry that Brooks won’t be one of the former.
I won’t miss his crosses that were 10 feet over any player (which were around half of his crosses) or his petunent attitude when he didn’t get the ball, had too heavy of a touch and it rolled out or had a shot go directly to the keeper and he hit the “surrender cobra.” He was also a defensive liability so I won’t miss him there either.
Dude, come on. His positives have far outweighed the negatives, this feels very much like recency bias.
It feels like ever since he got the one cap for the USMNT (and did poorly), he’s not been the same guy. I appreciated his work rate but skill-wise he seems to have plateaued a couple years ago and his now beginning the downhill trek.
If nothing else, a change of scenery might do him good. It will be interesting to see where, and in what league, he winds up next.
We will agree to disagree. From my perspective, his pay for performance was way off. He should have been on a Hernández level of contract. As far as positives, he was available for the media, could hit the occasional cross but no where near a $600k-750k a year player.
I’ll split the middle. I’ve always thought that his crosses are not nearly as good as people think they are, because he often overhits it and at best gets back post with no one there, and this has always been the case. And of course his defense has never been great.
However, when he was using his mind, and making runs to open space, playing cutbacks, and cutting inside when it made sense, he was a great player. And his ability to run hard 90 minutes was important.
If he had had consistency at that, he would’ve been great, but he wasn’t consistent enough in his play to warrant the price. I’m not sure how much of that is on him or on coaching, but I’d overall consider his time here as eh.
I’m okay with these moves, and I think Tata had a large say in who stayed and who went. Probably reading too much into it, but I also noted that Miggy is now listed as a Midfielder on AtlUtd’s announcement (and he previously was always listed as a Forward). I expect that one or two of the remaining players (perhaps even a DP) will be traded or bought out. Should be an exciting off season.
I hope you are right on getting rid of a DP. I wish all three could be gone.
This feels very much like a Tata move. Hernandez over Brooks is that “south american” influence he’s always preferred, even though pound for pound Brooks is a better RB than Hernandez (though at his price, I can understand moving onto someone else).
The homegrowns I can understand too, i’m just trying not to read into it too much because I think what this says is “those are our backups and we’ll go get more starting caliber players to fill those roles”. I think…I think. Because DCQ and Edwards, frankly, were not good enough as first team backs.
Curious what happens with Cobb though, I hope we can get him back to compliment Stian/Juan/Enea, otherwise we’ll need at least one more CB.
But I do hope we find someone to get Muyumba and Mosquera, we need them out.
I think Chong Qui is still young enough to grow into a starter level LB. It is a shame that Lennon won’t be retained, but he was definitely getting too expensive. I would say we need at least 2 more CB, one if we are able to retain Cobb, since Juan’s loan ends in 06/2026.
I think Chong Qui still has several years before he’s first team quality…he’s just not there yet.
I feel these were the right decisions. Only one I may disagree with was striker, but I’ll trust Tata on this one over my personal preference. Keeping the heart of the team Ronald would be huge.
Hmm, so guess we can try and convince Harriel to leave Philly to compete with Edwards for RB, maybe pick up Jaylin Lindsey at NMU or another dual fullback at Hernandez cost point. There’s not really many great options that are cheaper and still won’t take international slots. Maybe we can get SeanJohn to move back to GA to help Hibbert develop.
Nothing real surprising. I do hope Hernandez comes back. I will admit I was not a Hernandez fan the first few games I saw him play but then he evolved into one of the bright spots in the end of the season. He seemed to have good chemistry with the wingers regardless of who they were or which side of the field and certainly displayed the physical stamina and presence to be a full 90 minutes player.
can’t quibble with any of those decisions. let the era of tata 2.0 begin!
vibes, baby. vibes.