Atlanta United have revolutionised the term ‘smart business’ in MLS. Their excellence in the transfer market, signing young, improving players and then selling them on for a profit, demands that other teams now step up to their level of efficiency.
Many MLS organisations are being found out. The older, close-to-retirement Designated Players are not as effective, the desire for youth is greater than ever, and the shift towards becoming a selling league to self-fund new investments requires clever spending in the first place.
We have seen this offseason many teams adopt a similar approach to the Atlanta one.