Atlanta United has signed Chilean midfielder Carlos Carmona.
Carmona will join the MLS expansion club after having his contract terminated by Atalanta in Italy, where he made 155 appearances since 2010.
Carmona, 29, is a defensive midfielder who has 47 appearances for the Chilean national team, including playing for the team in the past two World Cups.
His professional career started in 2004 with Coquimbo Unido. He moved to O’Higgins and Reginna in Italy.
His signing comes days after Atlanta United confirmed the acquisition of Venezuelan forward Josef Martinez .
Carmona will be the second pure defensive midfielder on the roster, joining MLS veteran Jeff Larentowicz. Anton Walkes, on loan from Tottenham, can also play defensive midfield.
With the acquisitons of those two South American players, Atlanta United has Kenwyne Jones (Trinidad and Tobago), Hector Villalba (Argentina), Miguel Almiron (Paraguay), Chris McCann (Ireland), Yamil Asad (Argentina), Leandro Pirez (Argentina), Romario Williams (Jamaica), Jeffrey Otoo (Ghana), Kevin Kratz (Germany), Anton Walkes (England) and Julian Gressel (Germany) slotted as international players on its roster.
Atlanta United has just nine international slots, four less than it has non-domestic players. President Darren Eales and technical director Carlos Bocanegra can unload some of the players with loans to its USL affiliate, trade for more international slots, apply for green cards, or release some of the players to get back to nine.
The team has signed 30 players. It can carry as many as 28. Moves don’t have to be made until March 1. Atlanta United’s season will begin March 5 against New York Red Bulls at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium.
It will play its first preseason game on Saturday against Chattanooga .
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