Atlanta United will be without Josef Martinez, who suffered a torn ACL. For how long has yet to be determined. The type of surgery must be decided. The surgery must be performed. And then a timetable for Martinez's return can be decided. If it's a traditional ACL surgery, it's unlikely that Martinez will return this season, which wraps up in early November with the MLS Cup.
It would seem simple for Atlanta United to go out and sign another striker to replace Martinez, go on with its remaining 33 MLS games, defending its U.S. Open Cup and trying to advance past Club America in the Champions League.
If only it were that easy.
Here's why it's not:
• MLS rules;
• The uncertainty over how long Martinez may be out;
• The summer transfer window;
• And Jurgen Damm.
But I have a solution. It would only take tinkering with the rules of MLS, which are tinkered with almost as much as NASCAR’s.
My solution is the "Quincy Clause," which is a reference to Quincy Amarikwa, who has scored 26 goals in 223 MLS games in a career that started in 2009.
To go forward, we must go back.
Why are Josef Martinez and Adam Jahn the only strikers on Atlanta United’s roster?
The team traded Romario Williams to Columbus last season. During the offseason, the team didn't protect Brandon Vazquez and lost him in the expansion draft to Nashville, which traded him to Cincinnati. Hector Villalba wanted guarantees of playing time that couldn't be made. He was sold to a club in Paraguay where he is doing quite well.
Because of the then-ongoing CBA negotiations, Atlanta United vice president Carlos Bocanegra said a few times that the club didn't have a clear path forward on signing players because they weren't sure how much money they may have to spend.
By the time the CBA negotiations were finished, Atlanta United was left with two strikers and a closed transfer window in Europe.
So, to move forward, here’s my plan:
First, in the spirit of giving someone a break, give Jahn a chance to be a full-time striker. He has never received more than 11 starts in MLS since his career started with San Jose in 2013. He's a proven scorer in USL. He needs a chance with Atlanta United. Really, the team has no other options at this point.
Second, figure out how much time Martinez is likely going to miss. He and the team could get really lucky and it could be six months depending upon the type of surgery. It could be a year, which is normal, or it could take much longer. Whatever the likelihood, the team doesn’t need to rush Martinez back because it made a five-year commitment to him last year. And Martinez doesn’t need to rush back. If the team immediately goes out and signs a “big-name” striker to finish this season, I would think Martinez may push himself a bit more than normal because no one wants to lose their job and a truism in sports is no matter how good you think you are, there is always someone coming along who will be better. That’s why records are broken. Give him time. Don’t agitate.
Here’s where things get a bit murky.
Atlanta United reportedly has one senior roster slot remaining. Hey, that’s the slot the team could fill by signing another striker.
The team could, but … that slot is reportedly tied to Damm, a 27-year-old Mexican midfielder whose contract with Tigres in LIGA MX expires in two months. This would be a deal that was agreed to before Martinez's injury. If the report is true, Damm would take up the last senior slot on the roster.
So, how can Atlanta United sign another striker to back-up or compete with Jahn, wait out the decision on how long Martinez may be out, and keep Damm without releasing anyone its roster?
If you remember a few weeks ago, Barcelona was given permission by La Liga to sign an "emergency striker" to fill out its roster because it was out of forwards.
You may not know this, but MLS has "pool goalkeepers," which is a group of goalkeepers, one of which can be signed by a team in the case of an extreme hardship.
It’s time to create “pool strikers,” which would be a group of strikers who can be called up by a team when it faces a situation such as Atlanta United’s. The team doesn’t yet know how much time its striker will miss, so it doesn’t yet know if it needs a player for more than a few months. It doesn’t have an option from its USL team because its season hasn’t started. It just needs someone for a few weeks at minimum.
The face of the "pool strikers" could be Amarikwa, who has done this de-facto job a few times in his career and is really the only free-agent striker available who wouldn't affect Atlanta United's salary cap and would likely be willing to work for a non-punitive wage of less than $250,000, which I will soon explain why is important. Amarikwa contributes to a goal every 1.8 games when he starts and should have fresh legs because he's totaled slightly less than 10,200 minutes. He has 20 assists and 10 penalty kicks drawn in 101 starts.
The team could sign Amarikwa, putting him in the vacant senior slot on the roster, until a decision is made about Martinez’s schedule. If, within roughly two months, the team elects to put Martinez on the season-ending injury list, according to MLS rules a slot would open on the roster as relief. The team could elect to slide Amarikwa from the vacant slot on the senior roster into the slot now opened by Martinez being put on the season-ending list. Amarikwa would qualify because he makes $250,000, which is the cap on the salary of player who is an injury replacement.
Or, after a few weeks, the team could elect to let Amarikwa go back into the “striker pool” and look in Europe for a player who would be willing to work for less than $250,000 for the remainder of the season as the injury replacement.
Either way, into the new senior slot could slide Damm.
The “Quincy Clause.”
I like the sound of it.
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