Finding the next George Bello, the next Caleb Wiley or the next George Campbell is in part why Atlanta United committed $25 million to expanding its training ground, which had its ribbon-cutting last week.
The elements within the expansion — a new gym, hydrotherapy, classrooms, meeting spaces — wasn’t just about giving the first team more space in the original part of the building. They were put in to give Atlanta United 2 and the academy teams their own spaces, free from scheduling issues and other complications.
It’s those players who could one day step into the first team, help it win and then possibly be sold for millions of dollars, just like Campbell, Wiley and Bello. They are the reason for the investment because the returns could dwarf the expansion’s price tag.
Javier Perez, Atlanta United’s director of methodology, sitting in his new office with ideas written or taped to all open spaces on his white walls, said the 2s and the Academy will be helped in two ways: centralization and recruitment.
“Not many clubs — I’m not even saying about youth level, but club’s first team — have the resources that we have here and now with the school here,” he said.
The school is the classrooms for the Under-16s and U-18s, who can choose to enroll in the team’s partnership with the Atlanta International School. The players can arrive for 8 a.m. training, go to school in classrooms in the new part of the headquarters and then train again at 3:15 p.m. There doesn’t have to be any more leaving the grounds and then returning.
Before the expansion, a pavilion or small trailer were used as classrooms.
“You need to have a centralized space to make sure that these players, they are connected, the staff is connected,” Perez said. “The ability to move players between different teams or the environments is effective, and for the players that they need to do a gym session, they have access immediately to a gym or treatment. So all this is critical. It makes everything very professionalized.”
Having everything centralized will be a selling point when recruiting new players for the 2s and academy, Perez said.
“There are still players that are unattached,” he said. “Those players may be in a position to decide whether they want to go to LAFC or Atlanta. They decide to come to Atlanta because what they have here — in terms of education, in terms of development, in terms of projection — is better than what can be presented at a different club in MLS.”
Atlanta United manager Ronny Deila said having dedicated spaces for the first team, and more for the 2s and academy, actually will create more intimacy. Players won’t be surrounded by gobs of more players. Smaller groups can create stronger bonds.
“Says something about the commitment to Mr. (Arthur) Blank (the team’s owner), that you put all the things that you need to get the best out of every player into play,” Deila said. “So in the end, it’s no excuses. You have everything.”
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