LOGICAL and REASONABLE: What should Atlanta United look for in a new Designated Player?

Dear readers,

This will be the first of a new weekly post that will run every seven days. It is called “LOGICAL and REASONABLE” and will pose a question every week. It is your job to go to the comments section and discuss the question using LOGIC and REASON - or hot takes, you can use hot takes too. If I remember to I’ll pick a comment from the prior week’s question to highlight as the best one. I am qualified to do this because I judged high school debate and have a lot of experience with evaluating posts.

It is possible in the not too distant future that Atlanta United may have a spot open for a Designated Player. This is either great news or a huge misstep by the club depending on your thoughts of if a player that scored seven goals and had 11 assists with the team should have stayed or not.

I play some small part in this I think.

You’re welcome, or I’m sorry.

In any event, Darren didn’t take my advice... or maybe he did? The Designated Player slot is the most valuable thing in Major League Soccer. Every team gets three and picking badly means that what should be an impact player week in and week out is a drag on the entire roster. It’s like having the first pick of the NFL draft, only you get three of them and you don’t want more than one JaMarcus Russell.

Josef Martinez is paying off as a goal scoring threat. Ezequiel Barco isn’t quite a difference maker, but the team hopes that he develops into one. He’s not a JaMarcus Russell, but he’s closer to half of a DP until his development catches up with his hype. Miguel Almiron was like having 1.5 Designated Players, he could score, create for teammates, bring the ball forward, and was generally a nightmare for everyone else in the league. Whatever you think of Pity, he wasn’t that.

So, Atlanta United has (maybe? as of this writing...) a free Designated Player slot open. Who should they go after? Say there’s not a particular name that comes to mind, what kind of attributes should that player have?

Be nice to each other in the comments and have a great weekend.