Report: George Bello drawing interest from European clubs in Champions League, Europa League

Atlanta United left back George Bello is a transfer target for some clubs in Europe’s top competitions, according to a report from Doug Roberson in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

This information comes in an interview with Atlanta United President Darren Eales, which you can read more about in Roberson’s story above.

The news is not very shocking, and on the contrary, maybe meeting the expectation that many fans have had that Bello would be on the move during the upcoming MLS offseason in the winter transfer window. The team signed another left back, Andrew Gutman, from Scottish club Celtic prior to this season and promptly sent him on a year-long loan to New York Red Bulls for 2021, perhaps tipping Atlanta’s hand if things came to fruition with Bello.

The homegrown product has produced about as positive of a season as one could realistically expect, logging more than 2500 minutes in all competitions while earning his first U.S. Men’s National Team caps, including a start in the 2020 Gold Cup final.

On top of his play on the field, Bello’s contract status would also likely be an impetus for Atlanta to arrange a transfer for the player. Bello was announced as a homegrown contract recipient in the spring of 2017, but his MLS homegrown contract did not start until January 1, 2018. That means this coming new year will mark the four-year anniversary of that deal, which I’d assume (but do not know for certain) is a five-year contract.