‘On a good track’: Martino believes Atlanta United is better than its results
Gerardo Martino returned to Atlanta United because he feels the roster has more potential than it showed last season when it finished with the second worst record in MLS.
“We think that by adding a few new faces to the team, we’ll be able to form a competitive group,” he said during an introductory news conference Thursday at the team’s training ground in Marietta.
Martino and sporting director Chris Henderson didn’t want to say what positions the team is targeting. It could be broad. The team allowed 63 goals, third-most in MLS, and scored 38, tied for fourth fewest, last season in manager Ronny Deila’s only year leading the team. Deila was fired after the team finished with a franchise-worst 28 points.
Martino declined to talk about what went wrong under Deila because he said he didn’t have the day-to-day knowledge of the team. Martino acknowledged that there are obviously needed improvements or there wouldn’t have been a coaching change.
Martino said his belief in playing attacking soccer, typically out of a 4-3-3 formation, hasn’t changed. He recognized that MLS has improved, which he helped start first at Atlanta United and then as Inter Miami’s manager in 2023 and ’24, where he won the Leagues Cup in 2023 and Supporters Shield the next year.
Martino does believe that the nucleus of the team — Designated Players Miguel Almirón, Emmanuel Latte Lath and Alexey Miranchuk — can be effective together. The trio combined for only 19 goals and failed to develop any chemistry.
Martino, of course, knows Almirón. The two were with Atlanta United in 2017 and ’18, helping it win the MLS Cup in its second season. Almirón scored 21 goals with 28 assists, enough to be sold to Newcastle in the Premier League for a fee of $27 million, then an MLS record.
Almirón returned to Atlanta United ahead of the 2025 season. He finished the season with six goals, including three from penalty kicks, and four primary assists.
“Our intention is to try to get the best version of Miguel, because we know that this season he not only has a big commitment to Atlanta, but also a big commitment to the (Paraguay) national team and a World Cup here,” Martino said. “So, we believe that he can be the leader on the field, and our goal is also to surround him with other players who, while he can be the main leader, soccer-speaking, on the field, off the field, other players can help take on some of that responsibility.”
The new faces might not come from the same places as they did during Martino’s first stint. Atlanta United’s first two seasons featured a blend of South American talent with MLS veterans. Martino and Henderson have started targeting additions.
Atlanta United continued to try to find and sign talent from South America over the next few seasons after Martino left, but during the past three seasons has signed more veterans from Europe mixed with its own Homegrowns.
“The ideas and the personnel in Atlanta maybe has changed over the course of time,” Martino said. “But don’t worry; we’re not going to form a roster all of South American players. We intend to have players, as I said, to surround and try to help Miguel on the field.”
Martino said a key to success will be getting in those players as soon as the transfer window opens in January so that the team can improve its chances of a successful preseason. During Atlanta United’s last preseason under Deila, Latte Lath, Almirón and Miranchuk didn’t play a single minute together in a friendly match.
“I think both of those things are something that we’re already working toward,” Martino said. “We’ve already been putting in work for the last week or so and we feel we’re on a good track.”
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