In what will hopefully be the ultimate catalyst for one of the incoming rumors, Atlanta United officially announced today that designated player Latte Lath has been loaned out to Union Berlin. The official release comes about an hour after Tom Bogert broke the news on social media. The actual loan spell is for one year, which pushes the team through the 2027 sprint season, and they’d need to evaluate the next option before the actual 2027-2028 season. Importantly, Union Berlin is taking his full salary, so the move opens up that DP slot for Atlanta to make a much needed attacking signing, which Chris Henderson stated they’d be looking to fill.
The move is much needed for both parties. Latte Lath was a record-breaking incoming transfer in terms of money spent, and the return on that investment has been objectively one of the worst in league history. It’s very clear he needs a fresh start, and Atlanta United has to move forward on someone who’ll better execute on the pitch. Latte Lath had 7 goals in 30 appearances in 2025, and 2 goals in 14 appearances here in 2026. Besides his promising first couple of matches in the league, he never settled in to Atlanta and increasingly played with what simply appeared to be wavering confidence.
“After discussions with Manu, we felt this move was the right opportunity for everyone involved,” said Chris Henderson, Atlanta United Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director. “Union Berlin competes at a high level in one of the top leagues in the world, and this gives him the chance to continue his development in a strong environment. We appreciate everything he brought to Atlanta and look forward to following his progress throughout the season. This move also opens up a Designated Player spot for us which we will look to fill in this summer window.”
All eyes will now be on who fills his role as the main striker for the Five Stripes. Check out our Transfer Tracker below to get caught up on all the incoming and outgoing transactions the front office is making in their attempt to turn the club around.
Another flop.
To the writers/owners of the suite- any chance we can get a story on just how many flops there have been (coaches and players) since we won the MLS title, years ago?
17
It’s stuns me that there are people here upset about moving on from him. He clearly is overmatched by MLS physicality. He is an obvious failed investment. He hasn’t been in the starting XI since midway through last season. That’s two separate managers and staffs that looked at him and said “nope.”
Good luck in Berlin, but happy to move on.
We picked him up from the English Championship, which is pretty physical. IIRC, his stats weren’t *that* impressive. At least, he didn’t have a long track record of producing at a level that warranted an MLS record transfer fee. I suspect someone in the FO (Spector?) thought they were smarter than everyone else and that ELL was better than his stats. Or maybe they were trying to “moneyball” it, and something in his stats clicked with whatever secret algorithm the Atl Utd data analytics department uses to identify talent. Regardless, it was a disastrous decision.
#spector-out
At some point MLS talent scouts need to come to terms with the fact that MLS is actually better than the Championship.
ELL – would not have made it here – there is no CAM here, no Miggy nor #59 are good. I bet he does better some where else if he get a true CAM. This club is getting rid of players, but still keeping the cramp that their bias and stubborn coach still put on the field. WE SUCK – because of the shit keeper, shitty left back, and no striker. PLEASE GET RID OF THIS HORRIBLE COACH, and the other CRAP PLAYERS.
Talk about one of the all-time MLS flops…I hope when the dust settles some brilliant soccer minds will put together a story and how the ELL signing went so terribly wrong.
Just sign Josef for the DP slot and let us get a little joy out of this season.
I do wish you well. It just didn’t work out here for whatever reason. Best of luck ELL.
I hope the current FO is aware of the last time we did this:
Last time we did what?
loaned out a player to have more players in limited slots (U22s last time).
Not sure if my picture is showing, but I have a screenshot (not mine) of Franco Ibarra’s social post when we forcibly loaned him to Toronto to make room for Mosquera coming back from loan.
Oh right. Jeez that was such an F’d up decision that didn’t turn out good for anyone, especially us.
This is what i’m afraid of too. If he goes and bombs out like he did here, they’re going to let him go and then we’ll be in a horrible situation. I know this FO is desperate right now but man, this is looking very questionable.
One positive for us, they took on his salary so hopefully that helps to just seal him there.
Yeah, as I understand it, Berlin has an option to buy, not a requirement. If they send him back to us, we will almost certainly have to get rid of someone better to open a roster spot to accommodate it. Just like ShortRound was saying.
So I’m rooting for ELL to do very well in a new environment. It’s obvious this one wasn’t working for him.
It buys at least one year off of the most expensive buyout in league history.
probably not – look for problems (or a major buyout) next summer
I mean it’s not like Union Berlin have 4 strikers on their team and 3 more on second team that have gotten called up last year
I lack the knowledge of Union Berlin to know if that’s sarcasm or not, though I suspect it is? If so, <sarcasm> this keeps looking better and better… </sarcasm>
Yes, the sarcastic joke where I checked the roster got deleted somehow, not sure why. Their top scorer last year had 6 league goals so he could see enough play to see if it’s him or us.
Is it a loan-to-buy or just a loan?
I would assume there is a purchase option. Most loans, unless it is a young prospect, have a purchase option attached to it.
Yeah it has a purchase option attached to it. Like what SD2ATL said above, hopefully them already taking his salary puts the ball a little more forcefully in their court to keep him on after the fact. Worst case, Atlanta uses a buyout at that time, but at least it kicks the can down the road a bit.
Chris Henderson has not made any noticeable good decisions thus far. The team has regressed under his leadership. He should be on notice from Mr. Blank to make significant progress or be sacked.
Hopefully not a Mosquera hot loantato situation.
Yes, my jokes are in the same form as the team.
I’m a big fan of a loantato
loantato/loantahto
Loantato is sure to generate more chuckles than we’ve score goals this season.
As the saying goes, you miss on 100% of the jokes you don’t make