Atlanta United vice president Carlos Bocanegra and new manager Gabriel Heinze said on Monday that the club has offers out on players.
The club has been reportedly tied to Julio Buffarini, a 32-year-old right back from Boca Juniors in Argentina, and Lucas Janson, a 26-year-old left winger/striker from Velez Sarsfield, which the club Heinze most recently managed.
Bocanegra said that the club and Heinze are “very aligned” on what is needed to help the club return to the playoffs in 2021. It failed to qualify for the postseason for the first time in four seasons in 2020.
The club has right backs in Franco Escobar and Brooks Lennon. The club has several strikers, including Josef Martinez, who missed all but one MLS game in 2020 after sustaining a season-ending knee injury, Adam Jahn and two Homegrown players. The club is thin at left fullback, left wing and defensive midfielder.
“What I know is to get us all on the same boat and start to work,” Heinze said. “If it takes more or less time, I don’t know. But we need a good group of players who are committed and excited about their profession in soccer and from there start forming a team. We always try to form a competitive team. What matters most to me is being competitive. From there, everything about results and those things, I don’t give much analysis but I want us to be a competitive team.”
The transfer window will open in January. Atlanta United is scheduled to open training camp Jan. 25, 2021.
Those may not be the only roster changes in the work.
Speaking during his introductory press conference on Monday, Heinze said there are several younger, or less-heralded players, that he likes that will be given chances to compete for the first team.
Bocanegra lauded Heinze’s willingness to give chances to younger players during his short coaching career as part of the reason why the club hired him. Atlanta United’s roster included several younger players, including 17-year-old forward Tyler Wolff, 18-year-old fullback George Bello, 19-year-old striker Jackson Conway, 19-year-old centerback George Campbell and 19-year-old forward Erik Lopez.
Heinze has analyzed Atlanta United’s current players. He didn’t want to go into details of that analysis on Monday because he said he didn’t feel it was appropriate. He did say he saw a young team that full of will.
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