Andrew Carleton has a chance to start for Atlanta United in Saturday's match at Montreal, according to manager Gerardo Martino.
“We’ll see,” he said.
Though Martino has been pressed by media and supporters since Carleton, an 18-year-old native of Powder Springs, signed as the team’s first Homegrown, Martino has been patient with the young standout. He didn’t hand him his first MLS start until last week’s 3-1 win against D.C. United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Carleton didn’t score or register an assist, but he played a part in two of Atlanta United’s goals.
Given an opportunity to say, ‘I told you so,’ Martino took the high road on Thursday about his slow and steady approach to the plan for Carleton.
“It’s not that it’s an ‘I told you so’ with the reasoning, but he has been in football for such a long time,” Martino said. “I know that the younger players need time to develop. It’s our responsibilities as trainers to make sure that they are prepared to go on the field.”
Carleton started for Atlanta United in U.S. Open Cup games last season and this season and has consistently been impactful. He had four previous appearances off the bench in league games this season, with one assist.
“Last year, Andrew we could see that he needed that time to evolve and grow,” Martino said. “Brandon (Vazquez) last season was at that place where he was growing and we got to put him in and participate.
“Even with Miles (Robinson) and Andrew (Wheeler-Omiunu) they just needed more training and more time. That’s what we are seeing with Andrew. It’s a natural thing for such a young player to evolve into the next season.”
Carleton’s starts may become fewer when Ezequiel Barco returns from the disciplinary action imposed by Martino for an undisclosed indiscretion. It was that decision that opened a door for Carleton to start last week’s game, and a reason that Carleton may start at Stade Saputo on Saturday. Barco won’t be in the 18 against the Impact, and Martino said last week that he will have to work his way back into the lineup.
Carleton is considered one of the up-and-coming players in the U.S. national team pool. Asked about Alphonso Davies’ $20 million move from Vancouver to Bayern Munich, Chris McCann mentioned that could one day be Carleton’s path.
Before Atlanta United signed Carleton as its first Homegrown player in 2016, he was being scouted by teams in Europe.
“If people took notice a little bit more, rather than just the stigma in England and Ireland that this league is old – if you put away that kind of notion and realize that you’d better take a look at this league because there will be a lot more players like Alphonso Davies coming through,” McCann said.
