Atlanta United started the day with two picks, one in the first round and one in the third, and a whole lot of roster needs with very few resources available to address those needs. With the second overall pick and several Generation Adidas players who could play a meaningful role in 2026, the club had the opportunity to find a high-impact player early in the draft who could fill a key role on the first team without counting against the cap.
In our draft preview, we identified four of the most exciting players this year that could be available at pick number 2. Grand Canyon’s Junior Diouf, Clemson’s Ransford Gyan, the University of Virginia’s Nicholas Simmonds, and NC State’s star centerback Nikola Markovic all felt like good fits. Before we got to the second pick, two of these players were already off the board. Diouf did not enter the draft after receiving strong interest in the Netherlands and Germany, and Markovic was taken with the first-overall pick by DC United. Simmonds felt like the clear choice here after Gyan had what was reported to be a disappointing College Showcase last weekend, but that’s when the calls started coming in.
FC Dallas was looking to trade up and was willing to pay a hefty price for their chance to draft Simmonds. If Chris Henderson could address his Allocation Money needs while staying in the first round, that seems like a win-win.
Round 1: Pick 12 | Enzo Dovlo – University of North Carolina, Greensboro – Wide Attacker
With Dallas’s 12th overall pick, Atlanta United takes one of the most exciting wide attacking players in the draft. Enzo Dovlo is an absolute baller.
If you want to watch some high-quality tape from his last season, I recommend checking out his battle against Furman in the Southern Conference Championship match. Dovlo was all over the place, showing his attacking dynamism, work rate on defense, and competitive zeal. On a strong UNCG team, Dovlo was a star, scoring 10 and adding 8 assists in 1,767 minutes from a role similar to what we have seen Saba Lobjanidze play when he is at his best.
If you are a stats and graphs person, check out this impressive chart.
Dovlo came up through the Strasbourg academy before developing with Moulins-Yzeure Foot 03 and FA Illkirch Graffenstaden of the lower French divisions. During a media availability on Thursday, he said it took him a bit to adjust and acclimate to the US, but attributes his success to the staff at UNCG.
The last year has been critical to Dovlo’s growth. He was part of a remarkable Vermont Green FC team that captured the nation’s hearts on their way to an undefeated 2025 National Championship in USL League Two. Several of his Vermont teammates will also be on their way to MLS teams after hearing their names called in the SuperDraft.
After a successful summer, Dovlo returned to UNCG where he and his teammates became part of a dominant two-team race to the top of the Southern Conference. By the end of the regular season, almost half of the All-Southern Conference team was from UNCG, and the rest were from Furman (including Atlanta United products Braden Dunham and Luke Hutzell).
This is a very good pick for Atlanta. Despite Dovlo’s international status, he has enough talent to break through to the first team, given the clear positional needs for wings, wingbacks, and fullbacks. While I do not expect him to make the opening day roster, I do anticipate that we will be seeing him very soon.
Round 3: Pick 2 | Noah James – San Diego – Midfielder
After a long wait, Atlanta United was back on the clock. Based on the player they picked, they may have to wait a while longer.
Noah James is a towering midfielder who has excelled at Western Michigan and at San Diego. The Poway, California-native is a sturdy 6’4″ and uses that size to command the middle of the field.
He reminds me of a more attack-minded Chris Allan (former Atlanta United 2 player), who could potentially transition into a ball-playing centerback at the MLS level.
Atlanta will have to wait at least another year to bring James into their professional system, according to Mark Kelkenberg, since finishing his degree is a high priority for him. He will be a senior next year, so he will have one more season of soccer ahead of him.
Final Grade: B-
Overall, I’m pretty happy with this draft, and I think the braintrust responsible for it at the club will be, too. Dovlo could be a very interesting option that can give the club something similar to the player profile represented by Lobjandize and Brooks Lennon. The club also got a substantial amount of General Allocation Money to help them continue to reconstruct the roster for Tata Martino. Finally, they got an interesting project player for down the road in the last round.
Could they have done more with the draft resources they had? Sure.
But compared to some of the other drafts in recent history, this one at least feels like it had some intentionality behind it.
Former Players in the Draft
With the 15th overall pick, the Portland Timbers selected former Atlanta United 2, Georgia State, and NC State midfielder Justin McLean. McLean has been one of our favorite guys to watch in college, and we are proud of him for overcoming adversity and injuries to be part of a run to the College Cup Final with NC State this past season. Portland is getting a talented player who works hard, has a lot of versatility, and could end up surprising a lot of fans if given the chance.
Unfortunately, we did not see any other former prospects drafted today, so Nigel Prince, Cristian Bruletti, Andy Sullins, Andrew De Gannes, and Rohan Blackwell will have to find another path to the professional game. We wish them the best of luck and hope to celebrate long careers for each of them.
i think your word is spot on. i really wish we had stuck with our pick and taken simmonds, but at least there was some sort of plan this year. it’s been a long time since i’ve felt that way about the draft.
the draft is not the way to build a roster in mls, but it is an opportunity to target specific positions of need and identify worthwhile projects. i think we did both of those this time around.
thanks for the coverage!
I appreciate it. There are so many ways that teams approach the draft. On one extreme, you have Union, which completely rejects the draft altogether, while on the opposite extreme, you have Dallas and Colorado attempting to find quality through quantity.
Our strong academy gives us the flexibility to not have to rely too heavily on the draft, but I still see a great deal of value in it as a way to add key pieces that can help improve the back end of the roster in an affordable way.
DC, NYCFC, and Vancouver all had very strong drafts this year, so we will see how that works out for them.
Do we know if Nigel Prince just wasn’t impressive enough to warrant a HG deal? All this talk about needing to address backline depth, we end up not addressing defensive needs. Are we to assume it will get addressed through South America/free agency?
I think his midseason injury hurt his chances of coming back. Keep your eyes on Braden Dunham. Something may be happening there.