One Atlanta United player was conspicuously absent from the MLS Cup-winning side’s celebration on Saturday night, and from its victory parade on Monday.
18-year-old midfielder Andrew Carleton was not at Saturday’s MLS Cup final and was reportedly suspended for violating team rules the night before.
While the club didn’t offer an explanation, the suspension could be for a social media post he made on Friday night showing him out partying the night before MLS Cup.
Surprised more #ATLUTD fans didn’t notice – Carleton was out partying the night before the big match. And he posted it on his Snapchat. That’s didn’t go over well w/Tata, and it wouldn’t have gone over well w/most other coaches, either. #MLS https://t.co/7feFmO85lx
— Pablo Maurer (@MLSist) December 9, 2018
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Atlanta United’s PR team confirmed the suspension, but did not go into detail.
Carleton had not been on the squad at any point during the playoffs and probably wouldn’t have been in the lineup regardless. The last time he played in a match was the regular season home finale against the Chicago Fire.
He has nine total appearances with the senior team totalling only 165 minutes of action. He has one assist and has not scored yet.
This guy was signed at 15. How is it possible he has less than 2 games worth of minutes in 2 and a half years? Has he looked good with the second team?
ATL 2 was pretty bad this season so it’s hard to judge. It might be why he was moved to the first team because he had so little help. He showed flashes but also periods of poor play where he gave the ball away too easily, kind of what you expect from a player his age.
I wish they’d give him a shot somewhere else. Last time I saw him play with a junior NAT team he impressed me more than other names we read about all the time. He needs to go somewhere where he can get some minutes before his whole career goes down the drain. It’s not Atlanta
my emerging pet theory on MLS is it is squeezing out domestic 10s and to a lesser extent attacking players. go down the stats leaders on goals and assists and see how few Americans you find. round about way of saying you are right but then in a way expressing concern for what his solution would be. MLS is not just fairly rough for HGP but I think a hard place for domestic attackers to find time period.
the reason is 8 international slots, 3 DPs, and then the assorted other tools. it’s like the EPL, why play some risky kid you brought in when you can sign a 25 year old with a production history.
Last time he was used was 10/21, otherwise “unused sub.” That even misleads because he wasn’t dressed the whole semi series, only for the home quarter, not for the last game of the regular season. Suspending him for the final was probably a formality as he may not have dressed anyway.
8 games in 2 years, 1 assist. I know there are people pimping him as part of the NT future but I’ll believe it when I see it.
From someone who saw quite a few games USL games he either hasn’t improved or he doesn’t have a great mindset right now. Ledezma, Llanez, and Mendez all appear to have passed him. Busio may have also passed him. If Reyna makes his move to Dortmund and grows quickly we could be talking about Carleton as the new Freddy Adu because he will be so far down the depth chart.
He needs to be sent somewhere on loan even if its to a USL club. Him being at home and stuck splitting time between the first and second team isn’t a great situation.
Not sure he’s been passed by any of those players. Tab pretty much said he’s take Carleton to the U20 World Cup if available just the other week on a podcast.
MLS doesn’t really loan players that often unless it is to their own affiliates, hopefully, he will mesh better with the new manager. I don’t know what Tab thinks, I based my comments on what I’ve read from various Soccer Media Outlets that cover YMNT and the USL that rate those players above him currently. He has performed well when with the U20s, but then again so did the guys that were on the qualifying squad.