Eric Remedi, Atlanta United’s newest signing, arrived in the city early Friday morning and at the team’s training ground in Marietta just before lunch.
But manager Gerardo Martino said Friday not to expect Remedi to be inserted into the starting 11 too soon.
“At the moment, we will continue keeping things the same,” Martino said. “And then we will look at whether we have rotate guys.”
Martino said Remedi, a holding midfielder, was acquired because he can help the team, which has been looking for another holding midfielder since it sold Carlos Carmona in January. Remedi was acquired by Atlanta United from Banfield in Argentina.
But there are many things the 23-year-old needs to learn and adjust to culturally and tactically before he can play. Atlanta United will host Seattle on Sunday and D.C. United on July 21 and will play at Montreal on July 28.
Martino said he has yet to speak to Remedi. He needs to watch him train and decide what is the best way to use him. He is a “pure” holding midfielder, according to Martino. Atlanta United typically plays with two holding midfielders: Jeff Larentowicz and either Darlington Nagbe (who is injured) or Julian Gressel.
“Over the last stretch of the season, I think he’s going to very helpful for us,” Martino said of Remedi.
Remedi is expected to start training with the team Monday.
In a video posted by MLS on Thursday, Remedi said “it’s good to come here and develop my talent in the U.S.” He said he appreciated the way the team communicated with him and he was excited to play with fellow Argentines Hector Villalba and Ezequiel Barco, among others. The team also has Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and Franco Escobar. The quartet can help Remedi adjust to a new country, culture, city, language, team, teammates and league.
Larentowicz, who has played for five teams in his professional career, said the most difficult aspect of a new team can be figuring out how you fit personality-wise.
“What gets done on the field is the most important thing,” Larentowicz said. “Whether you are a nice person, mean person, it doesn’t matter. Once you step on the field you have to do your job, and he’ll probably understand that.”
Remedi was all smiles on the video and again at the airport early Friday morning, when a few of the team’s supporters showed up to greet him.
The team posted another video of him Friday afternoon saying, “It’s a beautiful club, and I hope to be enjoying everything with you guys soon.”
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