In the most positive sign yet that Atlanta United striker Josef Martinez will be ready to play when the 2021 MLS season begins, the Venezuelan posted this message to followers of his various social media handles on Friday;

Translated, it reads: Reliving sensations that were detained for almost a very hard year. The field, the ball and, above all: feeling like a footballer again. It is happiness. 2021 starts well; everything is getting closer. Soon we will see you again

Martinez suffered a season-ending knee injury in last season’s first game at Nashville on February 29. He underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ACL three weeks later. Without him, the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in four seasons and saw manager Frank de Boer leave to be replaced a few months later by Gabriel Heinze.

Also on Friday, Ives Galarcep reported that Atlanta United is closing in on signing Machop Chol, formerly of its Academy who then matriculated to Wake Forest, to a Homegrown deal. Chol is a winger who was a member of the club’s inaugural academy.

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Atlanta United forward Emmanuel Latte Lath (left) scores a goal during the Leagues Cup match against the Pumas UNAM at Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday Aug. 2, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (Mitch Martin/Atlanta United)

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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