Tata Martino revealed on Friday that Matías Galarza’s purchase option won’t be picked up by Atlanta United after being brought in on loan from River Plate. Atlanta is still negotiating with Galarza, but it will be tough to sign him unless he is made a Designated Player.
From a roster standpoint, letting Galarza return to River is more palatable. The club has plenty of choices here: Cooper Sanchez and Tristan Muyumba have become mainstays in the starting XI, while Jay Fortune has been terrific in a starting role since his return from injury. Behind those three are Will Reilly and Steven Alzate, although the latter’s place in the team is in question even after returning from an adductor injury.
If Berrocal isn’t renewed, Atlanta is very thin at center back. Stian Gregersen and Enea Mihaj are the starting pair at CB, but outside of Matt Edwards, there’s not really anyone on the current first team roster you could put there. (Frankly, not many people will miss Berrocal, who never found consistent form with Atlanta.)
Which brings us to the economics. Galarza’s guaranteed compensation was set to be $945,413 for all of 2026 while Berrocal’s totaled $1,424,666.64. It simply doesn’t make financial sense to keep either player. That money could be used to improve the team elsewhere: it badly needs a consistent winger, more center-back depth, and a No. 6. That’s some of what they needed before the season began, to be fair.
Atlanta needs to use this freed-up money to pursue players that can significantly improve the roster, not overpay for a shiny object. With Mauricio Culebro arriving later in the summer, it doesn’t need to make those moves immediately. But let’s hope that he, Chris Henderson, and Martino can put their collective heads together and conduct more fiscally responsible business.
He should be!
Berrocal’s loan needs to expire – even if he was willing to take a big cut in pay. Galarza brought some good play to the pitch, but not DP level play (not that our current DPs do that). If they could get him for TAM money okay, but not otherwise. Buy out a couple of overpriced players and bring in a couple of good CBs, a good 6, and a striker.
Berrocal can comeback if he pays Atlanta for his bad plays and then sit on the bench for the rest of the season without pay
why would we get him on loan for a couple months if financial was going to be the reason to not buy him outright…
Strange decision IMO
Galarza has been about the only bright spot (outside of our homegrowns) in the past two seasons. Of course we won’t keep him.
Is he worth a DP slot? He has been really solid, but that would shift him into the overvalued category at a DP classification.
He is definitely that borderline DP/high TAM player but considering Atlanta has a higher needs elsewhere he isn’t worth that money. Even if I think it was stupid to bring him on loan if we weren’t going to retain him long term
He’d fit right in then
Atlanta U should determine a way to keep Galarza. I get that the dp slot may be unrealistic but Galarza is a quality player and performs the way winning players do. Atlanta needs players that have quality and a winning mentality.
It wld seem something could be worked out. If he goes there better be a significant improvement in the player selection filling the void.
I’m ok with it only because our options behind him are Fortune and Cooper, who both have been good. If we can get a real 6, then we can even add Muyumba to that list. Like Galarza has been great at that spot, but the dropoff isn’t as drastic as it was at the beginning of the year.