With Emmanuel Latte Lath potentially no longer in Atlanta United’s plans, could the club already have a replacement in mind?
According to Ben Jacobs, Atlanta is one of several teams interested in Switzerland international Breel Embolo. Embolo scored two goals and added two assists during the World Cup for Switzerland, which appeared in the tournament’s quarterfinal for the first time in its history. Hull City and Ipswich Town, both freshly promoted to the Premier League, are also in on the 29-year-old, as well as “multiple Serie A clubs.” A possible deal would be worth over $17M.
Embolo has just wrapped up his first season at Stade Rennais, which he joined after three seasons at Monaco. At Rennes, he totaled 10g/3a in 34 matches across all competitions. Prior to that, at Monaco, he was good for 22g/13a in 89 matches at Monaco, with his best season, 2022-23, ending with him on 14g/4a. He has also appeared in the UEFA Champions League with FC Basel, Schalke, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Monaco.
With Switzerland, Embolo has 26 goals and 20 assists in 96 caps, including the pair of goals and assists he scored during the World Cup. He opened his account for the tournament with a penalty in Switzerland’s group stage match against Qatar before assisting against both Bosnia and Canada. In the Round of 32 against Algeria, his 10th-minute goal helped lead the Swiss to a 2-0 victory. But his tournament — and Switzerland’s tournament — came to an end against eventual runners-up Argentina as he was shown a second yellow card in the 72nd minute for simulation after a VAR check. Switzerland, which was level with Argentina at that point, went on to lose 3-1 in extra time.
This would be an intriguing signing for Atlanta United. Embolo has demonstrated an ability to contribute at the highest levels of the sport throughout his career. At 29, he’s not a young player, but he’s certainly not at the back end of his career, either. It appears that any deal, though, hinges on what happens with Latte Lath, who has been nothing short of a disappointment with Atlanta United in his nearly 18 months in MLS.
This doesn’t seem like the right fit.
We are lacking in character and leadership…he is not that AND stats not so great either.
Call me a cynic, but this doesn’t excite me at all. We take these huge swings and end up with huge misses too often and this sounds like another in the making – none of the “highlights” of his tournament performance scream $17 mil evaluation to me.
Share the concern – ESPN shows his last year’s stats as being 7 goals / 3 assists in 31 matches in Ligue 1. Not terrible, but not exactly torching the nets for a striker, and probably not worth $17 million (unless like Josef, Tata sees that he is being used incorrectly).
This signing would obviously be a PR move to capitalize on World Cup performance. Not only would we have the first/only WC player sent off for mouth covering – we would be the club with the only two WC players booked for simulation. I can’t wait to see the AU promo ads that could come from highlighting those infamous stats 😊
I know you’re joking, but I seriously question the guy’s decision-making ability. He was on a yellow, the position on the field didn’t really give the Swiss much of an advantage, and he did it in the Age of VAR. Not to mention he’s 29 years old and should know better (same goes for Miggy). Seems like a red (no pun intended) flag to me.
If he has interest from teams in the Premier League and Serie A, why would he come to MLS?
Much less Atlanta United… 😔
Do we really need to go after another expensive striker? Atlanta has not done well in signing DP level strikers, so mind as well just go after a cheap or young striker.
Especially given there are better options at this price point that aren’t influenced by the World Cup bump. Speaking of WC, there could still be lingering visa issues here too.
I do wonder how often teams overpay for a player who experience the World Cup bump and ends up burning the team.
I remember the best DP signing we every had – Josef.
If I remember correctly, Josef was originally a loan and then we signed him outright after doing well. I think it would be best for Atlanta to try to go at least down that route until we can trust the FO decision making.
It’s good to note, Josef was brought in as a left winger with Kenwyn Jones as the striker for the 2017 season. At least the front offices plans. Tata didn’t need a hold up striker for how he wanted to play so he converted Josef into a center forward.
To much success btw 🙂
To be fair, our DP strikers have been Josef and Giorgos, who were both decent to very good when they weren’t injured/recovering from injury. And Latte Lath was very good historically and on paper before he got here. I still don’t completely understand why he’s so poor here even after multiple coaches.
All that said, I’m not completely convinced of this particular choice.