After the signing of Mauricio Amaro, could Atlanta United be on the verge of adding another name to their midfield?
According to Germán García Grova, Atlanta is in “very advanced negotiations” with Boca Juniors midfielder and Chile international Williams Alarcón. The move would be a loan with an option to buy, per Grova.
Alarcón signed with Boca in January 2025 out of Huracán and appeared in 26 matches across all competitions that year. But he’s struggled to stay in the team in 2026, including during their run in Copa Sudamericana. That’s led to the decision to send him out on loan for the time being, and it appears that discussions to bring him to Atlanta to join Tata Martino are pretty far along.
Alarcón will certainly add to the team’s depth at midfield, but it begs to question what personnel Martino will deploy. Jay Fortune, Cooper Sanchez, and Tristan Muyumba has been his preferred trio, While Mauro’s arrival will change that and adding Alarcón certainly suggests that there could be an odd-man-out scenario.
The question is who. Fortune, who is out of contract at the end of 2026, has made it clear that he wants to remain in Atlanta. Sanchez has an option for 2027. Muyumba, who is in the last year of his contract, would seem to be the most expendable.
Despite Alarcón’s seemingly inevitable arrival, there’s still gaps to be filled at wing and striker. With three weeks to go until the window closes, we’ll see what Atlanta’s plan is there. (Quick reminder: just because we don’t hear a name doesn’t mean Atlanta’s not talking to anyone.)
They hired Tata to fix this mess. Tata is going to go get Tata players. Muyumba and Alzete are in the way out.
I can’t see us bringing back Muyumba after this season. He’s not a real 6, and he’s not demonstrably better as an 8 than what Fortune (when healthy) or Sanchez give us for much less salary.
Also, we still have Alzate, who I’m not even sure is a real person anymore. Maybe he’s on the way out somehow?
IMO if we want to field a truly competitive roster, Fortune needs to be your rotation starter and/or first midfield sub that invariably gets a lot of starts due to injuries. Sanchez should be your second rotation CM that gets sub appearances until injury shuffles the rotation, and then you need 2 players better than both of those guys.
No room for Muyumba when you have 2 homegrowns. Its just not financially viable. Not if we are serious about winning at least.
So we’ll probably throw that out the window and let Fortune walk and bring in this guy who may or may not actually improve our floor at CM.
o goodie…another midfielder
A loan makes sense, in a way, when a rebuild is in process and solidifying the midfield is crucial. So our defense, sans RB, got some attention, midfield getting attention, then figuring out the forwards. Problem is, ELL on loan still has the issue of a DP coming back, Miggy/Mira are both Mid/FW’s and DP’s, we don’t have much in backups so how much should we expect from high value starters in the attack? We all want it, but are we going to get it? i’m guessing no, which may be why you see the Josef rumors but there are many other MLS/homegrown type options like Arif.
I guess this is an Alzate replacement or something? Either way another player to take time from Fortune and Sanchez. Also, the FO does realize there are limits on international players, or do they think we can just buy slots indefinitely?
Thought the same. If this negatively impacts Fortune and Sanchez getting minutes, then I am against this move. We already see this happening with Baez blocking Chong-Qui and last year’s debacle with our homegrown CBs.
FWIW, the 6 comments under the X Post linked in the article are not encouraging. One of the kinder ones was
“I don’t know what they saw as good in this guy; he should’ve stayed as a hurricane, that’s where he was good, but at Boca he was the sub of the sub”
I asked Grok what it thought about the player, and got a more encouraging response:
“Yes, Williams Alarcón is a solid professional midfielder. He’s a Chilean player (born 2000) who has established himself at a good level in South American club football and earned senior caps for the Chile national team. He’s primarily a central/defensive midfielder known for energy, work rate, progressive passing, and contributing in transitions. Career highlights include strong performances in the Chilean league (notably with Colo-Colo), a move to Argentina’s Estudiantes de La Plata, and regular involvement with La Roja. While he’s not a global superstar or elite European-level talent, he’s a reliable, high-intensity midfielder who has proven effective at domestic top-flight and international level. In short: competent, professional-quality player who’s more than capable in competitive environments.
I wonder if the recruiting department has been using Grok to figure out who they should be after….
I would hope not, but I’m not sure I’d be surprised, given our track record on acquistions.
So, the CDM equivalent of Pedro Amador?