Atlanta United disappointed in results, working on transfer plan to improve

When Henderson was hired before the season, he said the team spent a lot of money on purchasing attacking talent. He planned to use the next months to gather intelligence on the roster.

Despite having the third-largest payroll in MLS, Atlanta United has accumulated only 20 points from 23 matches. It will host Seattle on Saturday. The team has scored only 27 goals despite spending more than $30 million in transfer fees on attacking players Emmanuel Latte Lath and Miguel Almiron before the season. The team has conceded the first goal in 16 matches, which puts Atlanta United’s attack under more pressure because opponents can play more conservatively.

Henderson didn’t blame the defense for the team’s poor results. He said everyone, including the front office, is to blame. He and manager Ronny Deila said a lack of consistency in being able to pick a lineup has played a role. The team has been able to use its first-choice back line of Pedro Amador, Brooks Lennon, Stian Gregersen and Derrick Williams only once this season.

So targeting centerbacks and central midfielders are about adding stability.

“But there’s a lot of different pieces we need to work on, and that goes every day there on the training field,” Henderson said. “It goes to what’s happening behind the scenes as we start to build.”

Deila said the team needs to have more players in central midfield, as well as on the left side. He said he’s had to use primarily right-footed players on the left side, which isn’t fair to the players or the team.

Henderson wasn’t clear about whether Atlanta United would have to sell players to raise enough general allocation money. The team traded Efrain Morales to Montreal for as much as $800,000 in general allocation money. It waived midfielder Mateusz Klich, which saved an undisclosed amount of money. The team has one buyout remaining, which it can use to clear more cap space. It has three senior roster slots open and three Under-22 slots, but is unlikely to fill those for philosophical reasons related to value versus cost. The Five Stripes can fill Jay Fortune’s slot with a season-ending injury replacement if that player’s salary is close to Fortune’s $109,000.

“There’s some moves we can make that work within the cap, and then there’s other moves we have to make to open up space to improve the team,” Henderson said.

He said the team will be very active in the next two windows because his goal is to compete for trophies. The only trophy Atlanta United seems likely to compete for this season is Leagues Cup, which starts next week. The sarcastic might point out the team may end up competing for the Wooden Spoon, given to the team with the fewest points at season’s end, if it doesn’t get its signings right in this window.

“We had a period here of evaluating the team and look, we’re disappointed where we’re at right now,” Henderson said. “We don’t want to be in the standings where we’re at, and we need to figure ways to move up the table and compete, and we’re going to compete every single game until the end of the season, and then look to be a much better team next year.”

Though Mihaj has yet to play — Deila said he should be in the squad Saturday — he has the characteristics Deila said he wants in players: ambition, curiosity and skill.

“I’ve been there for six months, and I have a very clear idea what is the reason that we are in the situation we are, and what kind of types we need and who we want to go forward with and what kind of culture we want to have in the club,” he said. “And I think we’ve been working really hard on the culture side. I think we’ve come quite far. It’s even harder when you’re not winning football games.”

Deila said he prefers the team sign players who are specialists. He said players who can play five positions may not be great in any of them.

“I think that is also for the scouts now and for the club, but we are quite agreeing what that is and what we are looking for,” he said. “There’s been six months with a lot of suffering because of the results, and some of the performances have not been good enough. But we have a lot of energy, and that does make me and the club more hungry to change it and turn it around and become that team we want to be.”