This is another in a series in which AJC reporter Doug Roberson will begin to look at Atlanta United’s possible player signings ahead of their 2017 inaugural season in MLS. Some potential signings, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, may be considered fanciful, and rightfully so. Some may be so practical as to be obvious.
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Here is the series so far:
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A few months ago, Goal.com compiled a list of players whose contracts will expire at the end of this European soccer season, which is just about done.
That means those players are available on free transfers, a much cheaper way of filling key spots on a team, and a possibly great way for Atlanta United to start to fill out its roster.
However, buyer beware.
There are usually pretty good reasons why some players haven’t had contracts extended or renegotiated.
Other players, such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, simply wanted their contracts to run out.
These are players who I think may fit the criteria that Atlanta United president Darren Eales and technical director Carlos Bocanegra have laid out:
- They want a team strong up the middle;
- They want Designated Players who want to be in Atlanta and MLS and understand the responsibility of being the first players signed. It is incredibly difficult to build and maintain a culture in a company, it is more difficult to fix a poisoned culture;
Some may be players who probably fall into the level below the Designated Player level and into the Targeted Allocation Money group. I’m going to also examine possible managerial candidates.
I’m not going to differentiate between those two groups in this series.
I again remind you this reflects my opinions only:
Adrian Heath,
formerly of Orlando City
Heath, the only manager in Orlando City’s short history, was fired (“mutually agree to part ways”) two days ago after a 4-0 loss to Dallas dropped the Lions to 4-4-8 and, at the time, out of the playoffs race.
Heath was with the club since 2008 when it was in Austin.
Pros
There are several:
He has experience building and managing an expansion club in MLS,which would bring valuable “best-practices” experience to Atlanta United;
He has experience managing an MLS club in its second season;
He has won regular-season and playoff titles, albeit in the USL;
Atlanta United’s Paul McDonough, formerly at Orlando City, should know all of Heath’s strengths and weaknesses, so he is a known commodity;
His mark of 16-18-16 is solid for a new club;
His overall record of 98-41-33 is very good;
Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi called Heath an ambassador for soccer in the city, which would also be a valuable skill in Atlanta.
Cons
Despite splashing money on Designated Players and landing one of the league’s best rookies, Orlando City failed to make the playoffs last year;
The team had trouble holding onto leads late in games, which may be a sign(or combination) of weakness in Heath’s strategy and tactics, good play by the opponent, or just plain bad luck;
While in Orlando, the Sentinel reported that Heath wanted greater control of the players he could select. I’m fairly certrain that kind of power wouldn’t be given at Atlanta United;
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