@comoesa made the key point. If top young American is going to sign with an MLS club instead of a big European club, they need to put something in the deal for the player. Not all MLS teams have this problem, but some do. If they don't put something in the deal for the player, they'll pay for it in the future when the next crop of top young Americans sees no reason to sign with those clubs. Carleton is a top young American, and maybe even a top young attacking mid around the world. If a player like that is going to sign with your team and he's ready for playing time, you do everything you can to get him playing time. Don't try to make excuses, like Martino does, Bocanegra obliges and the fans agree with. You clear out whoever is needed to get him time. Or if you don't care about bringing players through your academy, don't try to fool them in the future and ruin their careers.
Should point out ATL has made little investment in Carleton. They poached him from Georgia United and MLS pays his HG salary.
Tata is doing a great job with what he’s tasked with - winning the league. The organization is also doing a great job bringing in top level talent. I wish AC got more mins too and they were better about rotating but he’s not better than the guys in front of him and the team is winning so hard to really blame them.
Don't be silly of course there is something he could do. He just needs to gain south American citizenship.
ATL is well within their rights to load up on expensive foreign talent to try and win every year. But, that doesn’t mean they should hold top youth players hostage. Tata has proven many times over that he doesn’t rate Carleton/he will only give him opportunities when there’s literally no other options to turn to. Should an offer come in for Andrew, ATL should sell as they clearly don’t see a future for him anyways. I’m sure there’s an army of older South American attacking mids that would gladly accept a paycheck to play 100 minutes every half season.
My buddies and I joke around a bit that the best way for American attacking talent to get playing time in MLS is to sign on a free to random Uruguayan, Paraguayan or Argentinian team at 18, get that PT, then transfer “back” to MLS at 19. Voila!
Two things working in Carleton’s favor next season if he stays 1. Martino has not yet agreed to a new contract with Atlanta. He’s on the final season of his current contract. Reports from South America have stated that he’ll give a decision soon. 2. Atlanta is looking likely to qualify for the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League. If they do, they could have as many as 8 CCL games in a two month span at the beginning of the season. Even if Martino is back next season and he still continues to not like to rotate, it’s hard to think any coach would throw out the same lineup playing midweek-weekend for two months straight.
That’s EXACTLY what he tried to do last year when Atlanta had 8 games in 24 days at the end of the season. No reason to think he won’t try to do it for something like 15 games in 45 days
He probably will use the same team for 2 months straight if they qualify. Atlanta has depth to use two different teams, one in CCL and the other for the league but Martino refuses to rotate. On a side note, I would really like to see a team like ATL at CCL.
Are they holding him hostage? Do we know he's had offers from Europe that Atlanta hasn't accepted? How many comments do we have from Carleton indicating that he's unhappy with his current role? The weekly gnashing of teeth about Carleton's situation is a little amusing to me. We knew what the 2018 season was going to be like for Carleton in January when they signed Ezeqiel Barco. That signing told all of us that Tata/ATL brass didn't think Andrew was ready for an important first team role. And that signing, lest we forget..................wasn't made by Tata. He's not the general manager. The general manager is Carlos Bocanegra. Ya know, when FCD thought Reggie Cannon was ready for starting first team duty..............they didn't go and sign one of the most highly ranked young right backs in the hemisphere. They grabbed a few guys to serve as depth behind him. The Atlanta front office did the opposite. When they let Asad go, they could have said "Andrew's ready. Let's just sign an MLS veteran to back him up as an insurance policy." NO! They did the exact opposite. They had money. They had an international spot. They had a DP spot. So they filled it with the best player their money could buy. Tata gets a lot of grief, about this, and rightfully so. (Particularly when Barco wasn't available to start the season and now during his suspension.) But this was an organizational decision by Atlanta. Of course, if Atlanta wins their first trophy (a distinct possibility)...............................I don't think many in the general MLS public will give it a second thought. Job done for Carlos. HOWEVER, the "next generation" of elite youngsters in Georgia might think twice about signing a homegrown contract with that club. That's the spot you're in if you're a club like FCD or LAG or NYRB. Its all good to have the elite youngsters in your academy. But if you don't provide those opportunities to move up the ladder, those elite kids will look to Europe or Mexico. Sometimes we forget that Atlanta is less than two years old...................and may have to learn these lessons the hard way by having a Weston McKennie type of talent walk away for nuthin'. By the way, I worry about this a little bit with all of the elite talent at the LAG academy. This team is in the mecca of American youth soccer, and they're getting almost zero influence from homegrowns on their first team. Gotta turn that around NEXT YEAR. Cuz they now have competition in their own marketplace with LAFC. Something ATL doesn't have to worry about...............
They will. Why wouldn't they? If you think of this as an investment as opposed to a human being, then in order to protect it then they need to exercise that option.
Agreed. They will wrap him up as long as they can in hopes they can make money off him, as any club would do. His problem was signing in the first place but that decision was made by him and his family and probably a lot that went into it. For whatever reason, he doesn't seem to be rated by his coach and will probably be a spare part until his contract is up. He needs to bide his time at ATL, plays lights out when called to the National team and get out of town when his contract is up.
I think he probably is rated by his coach. The situation kind of reminds me of Reggie Cannon's at FCD last season. Despite the fact that Reggie showed he was ready in the opportunities that were given in the USOC, Pareja didn't give him MLS minutes doesn't the stretch. It didn't mean Pareja didn't "rate" Reggie Cannon, or that he didn't have a future at the club. Sometimes it seems to just take a while for a coach to fully trust a youngster when results are important and on the line. ATL is gunning for the Supporter's Shield just like FCD thought they were last season (until they tanked......................in epic, historic fashion). For some reason, Tata & staff just trust Andrew yet. Hard to explain, just like it was hard to explain why Pareja used Grana every week over Reggie even when they had fixture congestion.
I would agree but in the Reggie Cannon case when Grana left you knew FCD was going to give Reggie a shot this year. He has done well and now a mainstay in the back four. Atlanta has a number of people they continue to play in front of Carlton that are on big salaries and Marquee names in the club. It may not be so much they don't rate him, but don't seem likely to play him over those players. Phoden could have the same probablem at Man City and I doubt he gets much playing time this year either. But for Phoden he can go on loan to another EPL club and still develop and play against world class players day in and day out and then come back either next year or even the next. A two year stint at West Ham or Everton won't hurt him. Carleton is simply going to sit the bench or play sparingly until the guys in front of him leave or they get him off the books. Worse yet, sitting in USL for a year won't help Carlton much.
I don't think its that. Martino trusts Barco who is unproductive for his role. Its about trusting a domestic youngster. Whenever Martino is asked, he cites Carleton's age and lack of professional experience. Would he say the same for Barco? It's almost as if the coach doesn't want to use domestic youngsters because he believes they are naturally inferior.
This is true, but if Carleton expresses the will the test the market I think Atlanta and MLS does itself a favor by creating good will in that will appeal to future top prospects.
You can always exercise the option and say that we will accept any offer over $1 Million that you agree too. You don’t have to be out of contract to transfer a player out see Alphonso Davies.
Davies got minutes in MLS even when he wasn't incredibly productive. BTW I'm was ookin at the past ATL2 matches Carleton has played and the
yea!! he's terrible. *looks at mls table* oh he's coaching the best team in the league, with the best attackers? oh nvm.
OK, here's the test. Was Carleton as good during his U17 cycle as Pulisic was during his cycle? If yes, then he should be able to get minutes on a MLS side if Pulisic could in Bundesliga at a similar age. He may in the future a better player than anyone on that roster right now. Some of you may not think he was as good so you can justify what's happening. I don't think he was quite as good but even being close he has deserved better. If he doesn't get more minutes soon I expect to see FREE CARLETON ! signs at Atlanta games.