The rumor mill is still rolling even after Atlanta United’s MLS season opener, and this one is…intriguing, to say the least. Our ol’ pal Cesar Luis Merlo is reporting that Atlanta United have submitted a formal offer for Gremio’s Franco Cristaldo.
To start, Cristaldo is an Argentine playing in Brazil’s top flight league, spending the majority of his time as an attacking or central midfielder. One could likely deduce a whole smorgasbord of information from that alone, but while Tata Martino and the front office haven’t explicitly given a ton of sneak peeks on the type of players they still want to acquire, it’s safe to say the midfield is a priority. As recently as yesterday, the rumor of Matías Galarza joining the Five Stripes ramped back up, and that one genuinely has legs.
Don’t assume this formal offer means a signing is imminent; the ball is entirely in Gremio’s court now. But if Atlanta were to land him at any point, he brings a wealth of chance creation and is the type of player to be heavily involved in dictating the speed and tempo of a game. Per Fotmob, he’s in the 91st percentile in chances created and the 75th in touches amongst his peers in similar leagues, and it goes without saying the Brazilian leagues are no joke.
To land Cristaldo in addition to Galarza, a buyout would almost certainly need to be utilized. At the moment, Atlanta’s midfield consists of Tristan Muyumba, Steven Alzate, Tomás Jacob, Cooper Sanchez, and injured players Will Reilly and Jay Fortune. That’s not including Alexey Miranchuk, who’s been utilized more as a free winger on one side with Miguel Almiron in a similar role on the other side during their short time under Tata 2.0.
We’ll keep an eye on this one, but it’s clear Atlanta’s not done trying to make moves despite the season starting. Let us know below what you think! (Anyone seen Marcelo?)
Does Atlanta believe we do not need any depth at CB, RB, or LB? This is crazy…
Atlanta needs a lot everywhere. Ronald Hernandez led the squad with 2 progressive passes Saturday. TWO!
I know, but whenever there is a rumor or interested player, it seems like it is a midfielder 90% of time and winger 10% of the time. Would be nice to have some CB or RB rumors.
A little bit of Gremio in your team! The news here seem to indicate he could be really going to Atlanta. He had a very good 2023 with us, when Gremio (with Luiz Suarez) finished second in our Serie A. He has been unstable in the last two seasons, and seems to have no place in the team right now. He is ten times better than any Muyumbas, for sure.
I watch some of your game against Cincinnatti, and I still don´t see a real team. Hope Tata can change this soon. And Soviet mechanic should not be exercising his elegant football for Atlanta anymore. Very wasteful, and nonsensical.
And, with this defense, no way, Jose
I was very intrigued by how you felt about this news, we’ll see if it happens now or later or if at all but he seems like a stellar player
He can be quite good, and I believe Tata knows to to play him.
‘Soviet Mechanic” LOL
YES PLEASE! Having too many midfielders is a problem I welcome. But it does seem likely that someone would have to leave. Muyumba? Interesting that Sanchez started yesterday. Jacob can play other positions right?
Muyumba seems like the obvious choice to buy out if we are able to get two new mids in here. He made about $560k last season and his contract expires at the end of this year. It’d rather give the backup minutes to Fortune and Reilly once they are match fit.
Tomas Jacob can play almost any defensive position; CB, CDM, and RB. I wonder if we see him at RB once (if) we get both of these mids we are rumored to be linked with.
I was thinking the same. Maybe we are transitioning to complete positional fluidity!!
Interesting given we have plenty of players at this position, though how effective they are is another question. I would think we have to be getting rid of someone if we’re doing this transfer.
I get the sense some of these midfielders in our corp will get playing time elsewhere like as a RB or CB. Think Hernandez as a backup CB while Tomas can play RB and so on. If you look at some of the history with some of the new players, other than maybe Baez, they have all played multiple positions before.