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Atlanta United announced on Friday that it has sent 17-year-old Homegrown Player Efrain Morales on a season-long loan to their USL club ATL UTD 2.
#ATLUTD loans Efrain Morales to @ATLUTD2https://t.co/twgn3aJ7Yc
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) April 16, 2021
With the MLS roster compliance date rapidly approaching this move makes complete logical sense. Morales, who doesn’t even have a full pro season under his belt yet, didn’t feature much for Heinze during preseason and appeared to be very low down the defensive pecking order. Another season for him to mature as a pro in the USL makes all the sense in the world.
The signing of Josh Bauer and the preseason acquisition of Alex DeJohn made Morales the odd-man out in the roster numbers game.
The senior roster for the 2021 season is becoming more clear with only the international slots issue left to be figured out. The Five Stripes are currently one player over the limit.