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DONE DEALS
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Romelu Lukaku pursuit proves Atlanta United have no idea what they're doing
5 Aug 2026 15:00 CDT |
6 min read
News
Once the gold standard of Major League Soccer, Atlanta United have become a laughing stock, and their pursuit of Romelu Lukaku is doing nothing to shake that perception.
The Five Stripes are in the market for a new centre-forward after ridding themselves of Emmanuel Latte Lath, who has surprisingly joined Bundesliga side Union Berlin on loan. The Ivorian will go down as one of the biggest flops in MLS history.
Atlanta shelled out a then-league record $22 million to sign him in early 2025 after a promising spell at Middlesbrough, but he has now left the club again with just 11 goals in 48 appearances to his name.
A one-off miss in the transfer market is normal and, in some ways, inevitable. You can't always get it right, and plenty of expensive signings have flopped in MLS. The problem for Atlanta United is that this has become the rule rather than the exception.
Despite consistently being among the biggest spenders in MLS since joining the league in 2017, only a handful of their big-money signings have hit - and that hit-rate has fallen off a cliff in recent years.
The shocking decline of Atlanta United
The halcyon days of Atlanta's early years in MLS are a distant memory at this point - despite their best efforts to revive them by bringing back head coach Tata Martino and star winger Miguel Almiron, both of whom were crucial when they won MLS Cup in 2018.
Their attempts at recapturing the magic of the 2017-2019 era -when they played thrilling soccer and drew huge crowds in their new state-of-the-art stadium - have repeatedly failed.
Atlanta have missed the playoffs in three seasons since 2020, and they have not advanced beyond the quarter-finals stage at all since 2019. They are currently rooted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with just three wins after 18 games.
Even before the World Cup, Martino bluntly admitted that he would probably have been sacked already were he not the most successful coach in club history after overseeing that 2018 triumph.
The World Cup break - essentially a second pre-season - has done nothing to arrest the club's negative momentum. The Five Stripes have racked up just a single point in the four games since their return to play in mid-July.
At the weekend, they hit a new low when they surrendered a 2-1 advantage against the Philadelphia Union in stoppage time to lose 3-2 after goals from Neil Pierre and Ezekiel Alladoh in the 96th and 97th minutes, respectively.
They haven't sacked Martino yet because they know that the team needs a complete revamp. The issue is that neither the coach nor the rest of the club's front office seem to have any idea of how to get out of this six-year rut.
Chris Henderson, once regarded as one of the brightest minds in MLS, has an atrocious track record in his capacity as Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director.
It is difficult to think of a single good signing Henderson has made, and it is no surprise that he has become a social media meme among United fans. In fairness, though, Atlanta's terrible recruitment predates his arrival in 2024.
During the World Cup break, the Five Stripes brought in two veteran defenders from South America to shore up their backline. It's early days, but it seems unlikely Junior Alonso and Paulo Diaz will have a meaningful long-term impact, given that they are both in their 30s.
And yet you could argue that the defense isn't even their biggest problem. With the exception of some of the early success stories of Almiron and Josef Martinez, Atlanta's major attacking signings have been consistently dreadful.
Almiron, now in his second spell, is nowhere near the player he was before his big-money transfer to Newcastle, while the team's other Designated Player, Aleksey Miranchuk, has been equally disappointing, and it is a surprise that he is even still at the club.
There is no coherent strategy behind their recruitment. Atlanta seemingly have not fully grasped their new reality - even if it really isn't all that new given that they haven't done anything of note in this decade.
They are making experienced, ostensibly ceiling-raising signings because they still see themselves as a big club that ought to challenge for trophies. But you can't win silverware, at least not consistently, if you don't have an adequate floor.
Atlanta are a terrible team, from the forward line all the way to the defense. And until they rectify this, it doesn't matter what high-profile forward they bring; they will inevitably struggle.
They have been consistently burning piles of money because they are not seeing a return on investment on their signings. Their last genuinely major sale was Thiago Almada to Botafogo in 2024, but getting a decent fee for him wasn't all that difficult considering that he was a World Cup winner who was being chased by elite European clubs even before his move to Georgia.
Given that the veterans they have signed have consistently been poor, many Five Stripes supporters want to see the team invest in youth. Understandably, then, the fact that Atlanta are now being credibly linked with a 33-year-old Romelu Lukaku has caused bemusement.
The Belgium international is likely to depart Napoli this summer after seeing his relationship with the club deteriorate during an injury-hit 2025/26 season. He even managed to strain his father-son-like connection with then-manager Antonio Conte by essentially going AWOL.
Lukaku returned to fitness at the World Cup and showed that he is still a more than capable striker. The former Chelsea and Man Utd star is still a nightmare to play against, and he continues to bully defenders as he did at his peak.
There is no denying that, even at his age, he is a better striker than Latte Lath. If fully fit, he is guaranteed to get Atlanta at least some goals, regardless of how bad the rest of the team is.
But you can't guarantee that he will stay fit at his age because he is coming off a season in which he played a grand total of 64 minutes due to injury. Unsurprisingly, Atlanta fans aren't thrilled.
Five Stripe Final managing editor Rob Usry ran a poll on X asking supporters which No.9 they would prefer to see for the rest of the season. The options were Lukaku and fellow transfer target Breel Embolo, unattached club legend Josef Martinez and 19-year-old reserve striker Arif Kovac, who has bagged 13 goals in 17 MLS Next Pro games this year.
Who would you rather see starting at striker for Atlanta United the rest of this season?
— Rob Usry (@RobUsry) August 3, 2026
While 742 responses are not representative of the entire Atlanta fanbase - and it's social media, so expect troll answers - the fact that Lukaku was the least popular option with 16.7% is quite telling.
MLS roster rules actively encourage clubs to sign Young Designated Players in the secondary (summer) transfer window, so why not use the roster spot - likely a Designated Player slot - that you would need for Lukaku on a younger player you can build your team around for the next several years and then ideally sell for a profit?
Of course, high-potential players can be hard to get, but it is not like Atlanta are struggling financially - despite their wasteful spending. A move for Lukaku, on the other hand, would, at best, be a short-term fix for a team that needs a long-term rebuild.
