Reviewing Atlanta United’s contracts and possible moves

Atlanta United has six games remaining in its MLS regular season.

When its playoff run is over, the club will start to inform players about their contract options.

Before the season, the team released contract information for each player. The information included the total years remaining on each contract, but didn’t include which years were options, almost always held by the club.

Here are the players whose contracts expire after this season, with their salary information from the MLS Players Association salary database:

Ozzie Alonso, $88,200

Miguel Berry, $135,000

JuanJo Purata, $483,500

Miles Robinson, $1,437,500

Matheus Rossetto, $764,375

Quentin Westberg, $200,000

The club holds options on the 2024 season on the following player:

Jackson Conway, $89,716

It’s likely the club holds options on the 2024 season on the following players:

Clement Diop, $85,444

Aiden McFadden, $85,444

These loaned players have been purchased and/or their contract terminated, so their salaries have or will fall off:

Ezequiel Barco, $2,200,000

Erik Lopez, $568,300

Marcelino Moreno, $628,333

The total is approximately $6.7 million in salaries that Atlanta United won’t be on the hook for going into the 2024 season.

Of those players, the only starters that likely will not return are Robinson and Rossetto. Atlanta United has had a contract offer out to Robinson since the summer of 2022. He hasn’t accepted. It’s possible that if Robinson doesn’t receive a better offer from another club he may decide to return to Atlanta United. It’s unlikely that Rossetto will return at his present salary. He said two weeks ago that he enjoys the club and wasn’t worried about his future.

Atlanta United has three Designated Players: Thiago Almada, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Saba Lobjanidze. Lobjanidze’s contract can be bought down, opening a spot for the club to sign another DP. That slot could be filled by offering Almada a new contract. If he were to accept, his status would change from a Young DP into a regular DP. Doing so would negatively affect the number of Under-22 slots the club will have.

However, Almada may be sold in the winter transfer window. His sale, expected to be for at least $25 million, will open another DP slot.

The club’s three Under-22 players are Franco Ibarra, currently on loan at Toronto, Santiago Sosa and Edwin Mosquera. The club likely may attempt to move Sosa, who has fallen out of the rotation and has a relatively expensive salary ($693,100).

In addition to questions about Almada, Robinson and Sosa, the club will have to figure out what to do with Derrick Etienne. The winger was signed as a free agent and expected to continue building off last season’s career year at Columbus, where he scored nine goals with six assists. It hasn’t worked out so far with the Five Stripes, where he has no goals and two assists in 19 appearances. He hasn’t played in the past five matches. His salary is $676,250. A trade of buyout seems likely.

It will be an interesting offseason.

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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule

Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1

March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0

March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1

March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1

April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0

April 8 Atlanta United 1, New York City FC 1

April 15 Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 2

April 23 Atlanta United 2, Chicago 1

April 29 Nashville SC 3, Atlanta United 1

May 6 Inter Miami CF 2, Atlanta United 1