Chris Henderson is the best talent evaluator in MLS, according to Atlanta United President Garth Lagerwey.
That skill is in part why Henderson was introduced Tuesday as Atlanta United’s sporting director.
Henderson, formerly of Inter Miami and Seattle, discussed what he is looking for in Atlanta United’s next manager, how he hopes to build Atlanta United’s roster with its two open Designated Player slots, how he hopes to develop the academy players, and if he got to ride on a certain yacht in an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The questions and Henderson’s answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: Garth is very much a data-driven guy. What do you look for in the data?
A: When you’re looking at video, there’s a lot of things that you make assumptions on, and the data will verify. You look at someone, say that guy looks pretty fast, and then when you get the comparisons, you’re like, he’s not as fast as I thought he was.
I think a lot of the data, I like to use it all the way through the process, maybe at the beginning, as we have an initial player looking at, they do a quick data snapshot for you. And then as you start to get serious, I like to have a really deep dive into the data because they’ll find the red flags, the things we have to make sure we minimize the risk as much as possible in assigning because some of these players are millions of dollars, and they’re key players for our future. So I think that the more that we can get and the more information we can get to make better decisions is helpful.
Q: When the two of you were at Seattle, you had a lot of success with free transfers, intra-league, signings, signings that you didn’t have to spend a lot of money on. The most money Garth has spent on a player, I think, is Alexey Miranchuk, for around 13 million (dollars). Now you have a kitty that you’re not limited to of about 40 million here. That’s the 50 million from the summer minus Miranchuk. Are y’all going to want to spend that money, or are you going to want to be economical in the signings?
A: It’s a great question. I do think we need to look at how we can improve our team the best way possible. Sometimes, if the player is not available during that transfer window, it’s smart to wait until the next window to make sure you get the right guy because these signings are three-, four-, five-year signings, and you have to make sure that you’re making the right choices and not just doing it because you have the money available.
So I think it’s very strategic in the way that you prepare the roster, build the roster. There’s also the balance between the coach and the planning long term because the coach is often shorter term. They want to win on the weekend. They want to win this tournament. So there, there’s a real balance there, and figuring out how do we build a core that we can have grow together and that is the influx of young players coming through using every mechanism we have to sign, whether it’s U22 or DP or (Targeted Allocation Money), and how those all gel together, I think that’s how you balance, balance the money you have available.
(Senior vice president of strategy) Dimitrios (Efstathiou) and (data scientist/analyst) Arjun (Balaraman) have a great plan for how we move through ‘25 and ‘26 between the data and the projections they have for the budget. As they give us information of how much we have to spend on a certain position, then we go out and we try and bring that down as much as possible. We want to be able to use the money in different buckets if we can.
Q: So you mentioned if you can’t sign the DP now, maybe it’s smarter to wait. Garth said in November that it’s tough to sign two DPs in one window. Is that a hint that maybe both slots aren’t going to be filled in January?
A: I would project that we’re going to fill at least one of the spots during this window. I think it’s really important. We need to give the coach some legs to build on the pieces that we already have. So I think that’s a good first step. If we can get both signed in this window, then great. I think with previous teams, I’ve signed three or four in one window. So it is possible to do, you just need to make sure that your recruitment, your planning, everything is in place, and how you complement those players.
Q: When you’re interviewing a manager, when you’re vetting a manager, what is the thing you want to hear?
A: Collaboration, building of trust, being able to sit down and plan for which direction we want to go and that to make sure we’re all going the same direction. Definitely style of play, philosophy, I think that’s really important in understanding. Have they coached in the league? Do they know the league and how things work, because this is a unique league with different rules, different travel, different weather. There’s a lot of adjustments you need to make.
So I’m not saying that you have to have coached in the league before, but if you haven’t, how much do you know about it? Because that will limit the adjustment period for all of us. And then I just think it’s about how you can work together, how you can build something together. And really it’s collaboration and alignment.
Q: How do you work? Are you a guy who takes notes on your phone? Do you take mental notes and go and put them on a dry erase board? How do you work?
A: I like to observe. I like to collaborate. I do have a notebook. I have many notebooks, but I have a notebook that I just jot things down, thoughts that come through conversations I’ve had with agents, with clubs, with teammates.
Sometimes, if they have something that’s relevant for the club, I would say I lead through empathy. I try and understand. I have had a ton of experience in this league. I understand when you speak with a player and you have to trade him. I was traded six times, so you can deliver the news and in a certain way, and I think that should be throughout the club.
I do want to be a leader for a bunch of young professionals. I had some really great role models coming through. So I want to be that leader for the for the people here. And I like the values of the club. It’s connected to the community. Really strong values. It’s (team owner) Arthur Blank’s vision and how he builds an organization.
Q: You’re a former professional athlete, you’re involved in sports. You want to win. How do you win with collaboration?
A: That’s a great question. It’s about building trust. I think in this game, I found that it’s all about relationships. It’s internal, inside the club, and its relationships outside the club with agents, with intermediaries, with other colleagues, people who were in your same position around the world.
Q: When Garth was interviewed, he got to go on Arthur Blank’s yacht. I’m curious, did you?
A: (Laughs) I did not, but I didn’t know that. I got a lovely note from Arthur last night welcoming me to the club. It was, it was a really nice note.
Q: You were asked about U22 slots. Garth has referenced he doesn’t value those maybe as much as the previous regime did. You talked a little bit about just making sure the veterans know about the kids. But is there a value in these Under-22 slots? If Garth says, don’t worry about it, do you collaborate? Do you push back? What? How do you how do you approach that?
A: Yeah, I think that’s a conversation we’ll have, and I think there’s mutual respect both ways. I do think I’ve seen it work in different ways, you know? I’ve seen it work where you do have strong veteran players who can help those young players, and if you have that in place, and a coach who’s invested, then it can work fine.
And I do think it comes down to the character of those Under-22 players. You need to really meet with them, understand how they think, understand their goal. Are they coming here to bounce to go to Europe? Are they coming here to commit to staying in Atlanta and being part of this for years to come? So, there’s different motivations for players, and I like to really dig into those motivations and understand that because there’s so many young, talented players around the world that would love to come play in our league, and you’re seeing it more and more, and that’s part of that evolution of what I’ve seen since the ‘90s of this league, and the types of players that are coming to our league.
Q: Turning to the designated players, you had a mix at Miami of DPs, some attacking players and guys on the back end? Is your philosophy to put DP money toward goals and goal creation, or is it simply, this is the player that’s best going to help the team win?
A: Yeah, good question. I think it can be both. I do think you have to look at the team you have and then the players you have, and what complements those. I would say someone who’s scoring goals and leading from the front is an important piece to add. And then it’s conversations. It’s about figuring out where the next need is. Is it on the wing? Is it in the center of midfield?
Oftentimes, it used to be, you’re always looking at the spine of the team. You adding down the spine, but last year we had an outside back, he’s going to be a DP, Jordi Alba, and you saw the effect that he had. So there’s different ways you can influence games, and I think that’s based on the team you have, the team you’re building, and how you complement all of them together, right?
Q: Academy kids. Atlanta United has had a lot of success with academy kids, George Bello (and) Caleb Wiley, and Jay Fortune was one Dax (McCarty) called one of the three most important players on the team last year. And there’s more coming. How do you work with a manager on the development of those players because they are, frankly, cheap assets that could turn into very valuable assets.
A: Yes, and it’s been proven that they are valuable. We played against their Next Pro team here, and then I’ve seen the academy games that they played, and they have a lot of talent.
I do think it’s about how you can challenge the young players with the highest level they can play at that time. So if they’re good enough as teens to train with the first team, you give them that opportunity, and then sometimes you pull them back to have the leadership. It’s a balance between not just throwing them into the full team all the time, even if they’re ready. I think there’s that up and down as they grow because there’s this psychological, there’s a lot of things that go into the complete player.
These young players are growing and learning. Some of those players are youth national-team players, and they’re going to be exposed to international tournaments that we couldn’t give them. So those opportunities help them grow.
So I think having a coach who completely understands the player pathway is going to be really important because, as you said, cheap talent is the future of your club. And if you can have two, three young Homegrown players on lower wages that are playing and putting minutes in, it’s going to really help your team and helps the depth of the team. I had success with that at Miami, too.
Q: What is success for year one next season, and what is it in three years?
A: I think Garth touched on it. I think you look at where the team finished this year in the playoffs. Can we go beyond that? You get into tournaments, you qualify for the playoffs, you give yourself a chance to go all the way. As you add pieces to the team, each transfer window, we expect you’re going to continue to improve and get better and keeping those guys healthy, performing well, that’s a really important piece. We need them on the field, the key players.
So I think adding to that, I kind of look at it as a three-year window, how we can build processes in place where we have talent coming through many different avenues, and if you have those choices of players, it just helps you build a better team as a whole.
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