Rumor: Atlanta United in pursuit of Uruguayan winger Manuel Castro

Atlanta United is “one step away” from acquiring 24-year-old Uruguayan winger Manuel Castro from Estudiantes de La Plata in Argentina, according to a local report.

Estudiantes appears happy to do business with MLS clubs. Atlanta has an existing relationship with the club after the pair arranged the transfer of Leandro Gonzalez-Pirez in 2017. Now, the Argentine club will send midfielder Ivan Gomez to Inter Miami and appear willing to let another youngster leave to Atlanta.

The deal is reportedly a 6-month loan, and the reasonable assumption is that Atlanta would have either an option or obligation to buy. The team has arranged similar deals in the past, most recently with Emerson Hyndman’s loan-to-buy deal with Bournemouth.

It appears that the Castro talks are very real, but its just one iron in the fire for Atlanta United as the team tries to find replacements for key players who’ve recently departed. Frank de Boer commented to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the transfer window can be tricky with multiple stakeholders willing to move the goalposts at any time in any given deal.

“Every penny has to turn around,” he said. “Agents want more money suddenly, or we are really focused on a player and he goes in a different direction and we have to go to plan B and it’s one or two weeks more.”

Stay tuned on this one.