After a busy offseason and some major spending, Atlanta United is locked and loaded for the 2025 Major League Soccer season, which it will kick off by hosting CF Montréal on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The club has undergone many changes in the almost three months since its Cinderella run in the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs where the team knocked out Lionel Messi and Inter Miami before falling to Orlando City in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Five Stripes named former Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami executive Chris Henderson as the club’s new Chief Soccer Officer on Dec. 16 and announced former Scottish Celtic FC, Club Brugge, and New York City FC manager Ronny Deila as head coach on Dec. 20. Additionally, Atlanta United made two important designated player signings: Miguel Almirón, a 31-year-old Paraguayan international winger who spent the past six years with Newcastle United in the English Premier League and 26-year-old Ivorian striker Emmanuel Latte Lath from EFL Championship side Middlesbrough in a deal reportedly worth around $22 million.
Preseason preparations are well underway with the team gradually picking up Deila’s tactics of playing a faster, more direct style of attack soccer. Since this kind of system has very high physical demands, many players noticed the rigorous training sessions to build up their fitness ahead of the new season are intense.
“I really like it,” 19-year-old Atlanta United winger Luke Brennan said. “I feel like our team’s getting more and more competitive.”
One of Deila’s main critiques about the team’s 2-1 preseason loss to Chattanooga FC was the number of safe, backward passes. He noted an improvement after Atlanta followed that performance with convincing 2-0 wins over Birmingham Legion and New England Revolution, but Deila said there was still more work to be done.
“We need more forward passing because the front has to be more available,” Deila said after the Birmingham match. “We need to dare to play on them in tight situations because they should have the quality to do it. We have so much quality forward. It’s also coming even more quality in from new players.”
One of those new players, Miguel Almirón, saw some action in the victory over New England. The Paraguayan played almost 70 minutes in his first game back and left a positive impression on his teammates, including those who never previously played with him.
“I think it’s a big opportunity to play with him because he’s a good player,” Jamal Thiaré, Atlanta United striker said after the game. “He’s a good thing for the team, and I think if I’m going to play with him, I’m going to have more space because I have good feet, and he can deliver more assists.”
Winger Luke Brennan had a different kind of admiration for the Paraguayan attacker. When Almirón played for the Five Stripes in 2017 and 2018, Brennan was just coming up through Atlanta United’s youth academy. Although he saw him play, he had never played alongside him. Now, six years later, he finally had his chance to share the field with the club legend.
“I remember how good he was, and I was hoping that one day I could become like him,” Brennan said. “I never really thought of us playing together, but it’s really cool. It’s a full circle moment.”
Atlanta United kicks off its regular season against Montreal on Saturday, Feb. 22. At Mercedes Benz Stadium.
