The Daily Dirt, December 30: Live Peachtree Post this morning

Listen in to this morning’s live Peachtree Post show, starting at 10:00 a.m. It will be available to listen to later in the day at the same link.

We’ll get deeper into it on the show, but this morning’s post about where Atlanta United might be shopping obviously grabbed my attention. Ives Galarcep reported that the club is looking at “big-ticket targets” in Argentina and Mexico. Rob mentioned two of them from Mexico in Darwin Quintero and Lucas Zelarayan.

I’ve talked about Quintero a bit on the Peach Pit. I think he’s a great talent, but he’s a bit of a stretch for Tata Martino’s primary system of play. That doesn’t mean it might not happen though, Martino has shown a willingness in the past to play two traditional forwards in his 4-3-3 alignment. Quintero has often played as a second forward, he could be deployed in a central attacking midfield role as well although that might be a more difficult stretch.

Zelarayan is a 24-year-old Argentine who began his career with Belgrano before moving to Tigres in Mexico. There, he played mostly as a central attacking midfielder last season where he scored three goals and had three assists during Tigres’ championship run. Earlier in his career, he played more on the wings. His passing and vision is a strong suit.

Domestic

Loads of MLS nuggets from Ives Galarcep (Goal)

Former New England Revolution manager and current ESPN pundit Steve Nicol blasts Landon Donovan (ESPN)

Bob Bradley and the troubling provincialism of American soccer coaching (US Soccer Players)

USWNT changes counsel right before CBA expires, negotiations ongoing (Equalizer Soccer)

MLS signing lots of Costa Rican players, will their local clubs benefit? (FourFourTwo)

International

The Chinese league strikes again, this time with an absurd offer for Cristiano Ronaldo (BBC)

Referee Mark Clattenberg says that he would be open to an offer from China, but he has not received one yet (Indpendent)

Top 10 goals of the year from beIN Sports: