In what was expected to be a busy offseason, Atlanta United has been active in reshaping the young depth between the Supplemental Roster and the upper levels of the development pipeline.
We have already seen the annual reset of the 2s with a large group of players departing and the first multi-player announcement of the offseason. Santiago Pita, Jonathan Ransom, and James Donaldson all signed their first contracts and have been active in preseason training with the first team. We also saw the talented 2s winger Gabriel Wesseh depart the club for Norway.
The club has also used loans to open up spots on the senior supplemental roster and create playing opportunities for Homegrown Players who may not have a pathway to meaningful minutes in Atlanta in 2026. Ashton Gordon will join academy alumni Daniel Mangarov with Chattanooga FC on loan for the 2026 season, and newly-promoted Homegrown centerback Kaiden Moore will return to Philadelphia Union for a second loan after spending the end of the 2025 season with Union II. Both loans are set to expire at the end of the 2026 season, but it is unclear whether either player will return to Atlanta United.
While this already feels like a lot of shuffling of the Supplemental Roster, there could be additional departures or loans before the end of the window, with several candidates for the “31st roster spot” that comes with a season-long loan back to the 2s.
One intriguing addition to the roster is US Youth International Adrian Gill, who is rumored to be joining Atlanta United from Barcelona’s reserve team. The Denver native plays primarily in the central midfield but has experience at right-back. He joined Barcelona’s academy in 2018 before earning his first professional contract with the club in 2022.
Like Rodrigo Neri, Gill is an intriguing young American prospect with valuable development experience in one of the world’s top academies, but he has not yet been able to make the jump to first-team or upper league minutes due to injuries. He continued to train at the club last summer and signed an extension in August through June. Last November, Gill joined Spanish fourth division side Cornellà on loan and appears to have regained enough match fitness for Atlanta United to give him a shot.
Gill will join a loaded central midfield made up of highly talented homegrown talents like Jay Fortune, Will Reilly, Cooper Sanchez, and Adyn Torres. The club also has veterans Tristan Muyumba and Steven Alzated signed as TAM players, and is rumored to be pursuing Guido Rodriguez. He could also be competing with Matthew Edwards, Ronald Hernandez, and new U-22 signing Tomàs Jacob at the right-back position. Either way, he has a tall task ahead of him, but the club seems to believe he can add to this roster.
what does this say for our developmental process when we keep loaning/selling off our players, but bringing in other young players from other systems to our team? really don’t like we don’t really have CB depth, but loan out a young CB to a conference rival.
This is mostly clearing out some guys so that other prospects can get a shot. And I don’t think Moore will make much of an impact for Union next season.
Tristan Muyumba as a TAM player? Oof.