Breel Embolo to Atlanta United is happening.
According to Tom Bogert, Embolo will head stateside on Friday to put the wraps on his $18 million transfer to Atlanta. It would be one of the top five transfer fees in MLS history.
After initial reports in July linked Embolo to Atlanta, talks picked up steam, eventually culminating in the deal approaching its final stages on August 14. Things looked to be in jeopardy a few days later as Embolo reportedly rejected Atlanta’s salary offer, with L’Equipe in France stating that newly promoted Premier League team Ipswich Town was the frontrunner. However, that was more or less debunked by subsequent reports from England.
Now, though, it looks like the green light is on for good. Barring any unforeseen hiccups, Breel Embolo is set to be Atlanta United’s newest No. 9 as the club has fully turned the page on the failed Emmanuel Latte Lath era.
I think we all hope for and expect much better finishing from this move and would be disappointed if it doesn’t happen. With that said, 18m USD really isn’t that much money for the international market. It’s like in baseball, where the super stars are making 20-30 mil per year now, so a middle of the rotation yeoman starter gets 13 or so. Athletes get paid lots and lots of money. 18m is a lot for MLS, but Atlanta’s model is to sign international players as DPs. That’s the price of it. And it’s not my money.
Wasn’t he originally supposed to be a loan?
That was Darwin.
He was just waiting until he could join a “winning” team on a win streak.
Let’s just hope that little bookmark from him being a loan doesn’t yank that page back open.
So assuming normal visa processing, we’re looking at maybe 10 games available the rest of the season. I feel like 5 G/A isn’t unreasonable as the minimum expectation.
As a bare minimum, okay, but for the money, I certainly hope for more. For the sprint season, the minimum should be more like 15 G/A.