A second U22 signing in this window? No, you’re not dreaming.
Atlanta United has acquired left back Elías Báez from Argentinian side San Lorenzo, the club announced Tuesday, adding competition and youth at the back.
Báez, 21, is under contract through 2028 with options for 2029 and 2030. He will occupy a U22 slot and an international slot on the Five Stripes’ roster.
“Elías has emerged as one of the best young defenders in Argentina over the past couple of seasons and we’re pleased that he has chosen Atlanta United as the next step in his career,” Chris Henderson said in a statement. “He’s going to bring energy and toughness and fits well with our style of play. We look forward to welcoming him to the club and integrating him into our group.”
After coming up through San Lorenzo’s academy, Báez made his pro debut in 2022 with El Ciclón’s second team. He had 20 appearances with San Lorenzo II before joining the first team, breaking out in 2024 and becoming an important member of the squad. He made 60 appearances for San Lorenzo’s top side.
A solid defender with energy and stamina, Báez reinforces Atlanta’s left side with the right qualities for Tata Martino’s physically demanding system of play. While it’s unclear whether he comes in to be a starter over Pedro Amador, who stood out in Atlanta’s 4-0 preseason win over Lexington SC last Friday, he will at least add quality depth and competition at the left back position.
With Báez and Tomás Jacob, Atlanta United has now filled two of its three U22 slots. The third was vacated after Edwin Mosquera’s permanent transfer to Santa Fe.
What do you think of this signing? Let us know in the comments below.
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Atlantistas: who are your players this year? Is Soviet Mechanic still there?Under Tata he might work. Is that Miranchuk still there? Tata will get rid of him, too slow, and play Miguel Almiron as a 10. This kid from San Lorenzo should be good. But, what matters: is Lennon stil there?
Lennon is gone. Saba is probably still here, there were rumors of trying to sell him off but he hasn’t gone anywhere yet. Miranchuk is still here also, many of us were convinced they’d try to sell him off, but so far in interviews Tata seems to think that him and Miggy can play together. And during the one preseason game we saw, they actually for the most part did seem to work well together.
I wonder if Amador could become an option for LW as well.
I still think Amador will get most of the playing time at LB. Maybe Amador will get some looks at RB since we don’t really have depth at RB.
I’m on the other side of that and think Baez was brought in with the intention of starting him. He was an absolute workhorse for San Lorenzo last year, starting all 32 matches and logging 2808 of 2880 possible minutes in league play. San Lorenzo had a solid season, finishing 7th, and allowed the third fewest goals in 2025. I believe he played more first team minutes just last season than all of our pre-2026 U22s (Mosquera, Lopez, Sosa, and Ibarra) had combined when they arrived at AUFC. I am not sure a move out of Argentina makes sense for Baez unless Tata is planning on utilizing him a ton, either.
Either way, we are pretty well set at LB, which is more than we can say for a number of other spots. RB, CDM, wing, and now striker seem a little light maybe CB as well. Some of it may get sorted with how Tata elects to set up the squad and deploy some of these guys. Tomas Jacob has experience playing three positions, CDM, RB, and CB. We also do not really know how Tata is going to use Miggy and Miranchuk together once ELL is back in the lineup, and where he wants to slot Saba in. It seems like we are going to be starting the season a bit short, but the winter window doesn’t close until March 26, so still about 7 or so weeks to get some early season support.
My gut says this is right, lwb or lb, with Báez serviceable as lcb
This was already in the works, but i’d like to hear some rumblings about additional forwards…we can’t run this year with LL and Cayman only. Our winger corp is pretty light too.
I think Miranchuk will be considered another striker, consider he played the 9 during the first preseason match
Possibly, but that’s still a very slim corp for the front. About a month out and it appears we still have some gaps…
Also agree…don’t think he’s a mf in Tata’s world…likely more of a Campana
There’s a 28y.o. Dominican CF who can also play on the left or right wing and has 31 goals and a half dozen assists across all competitions last year named Dorny Romero. Anybody heard of this guy or know much about him? His contract runs out later this year.
Might be a little more than you’d want to spend (roughly about the same or a bit more than Thiaré was costing us) but would fit oh so well into Tata’s scheme.
Now if we could add another RB
Yeah, outside of Hernandez, who is kind of meh as a starting option, there isn’t an obvious RB2. I don’t hate Hernandez, but it does seem like a starter that could be easily upgraded.
We do have a lot of guys that have played there some: Matt Edwards, Adrian Gill, and Tomas Jacob. And Saba has played RWB with 3ATB. Ideally, we can find someone to start over Hernandez, but at this point, I think I’m more concerned about getting a CDM and a starting-quality wing to go on the left.