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River Plate’s Martinez announces he’s joining Atlanta United

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Gonzalo “Pity” Martinez says he will be the next South American star to head to Atlanta United.

The River Plate winger announced he will join Atlanta United after his team won the Copa Libertadores Final in Madrid on Sunday. He scored the third goal in the 3-1 victory.

“I want to inform people that in January I will not continue,” Martinez told TyC Sports. “It’s been a very difficult decision for me, but my journey continues. I think I’ve given people what they deserve, and that is everything for those who supported me.”

Atlanta United will pay a $17 million release clause to secure his services.

“It’s the club that has put its trust in me,” Martinez said about Atlanta. “European clubs did not put their trust in me at the time, and I thought long and hard about it with my family and my agent.

“The MLS is a league that has grown a lot, and I hope I can keep on making history at that club.”

Martinez made his debut with the Argentina National Team on September 8 in a 3-0 win over Guatemala. He started and scored a penalty in that match.

He will play for River Plate in the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates before leaving the club for the MLS champions.

Comments

  1. Remember Garber saying it MLS needs to become more of a selling league in the days leading up to MLS Cup? Here what I think is going on…

    Pity news is not new to ATL fans we’ve heard it for months now, but Pity actually spilled the beans in a interview after River’s win in the Copa Libertadores final. If he is moving to ATL then we are selling one of our other DPs. This makes sense with Almiron moving on also no secret after this season.

    Whats interesting is the timing of Garber’s change of heart to becoming more of a selling league. I can’t help but wonder if Darren Eales briefed the boss about offers/negoitations going on for Almiron and if they are in the 25-30MM range that is a 100-130% ROI on Almiron just from transfer fees. Show the DON the numbers and he starts changes his mind on never being a selling league. We can thank Darren Eales for changing MLS if this is true.

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  2. Almiron $8 mil, Josef $5 mil, Barco $15 mil, Pity $17 mil. If the business model is to get young players, turn them around and sell for profit (selling league), then ATL has a lot of selling to do.
    Oh, Euro scouts already passed on these guys at these numbers. Did their value go up playing against MLS competition?

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    • If, however, the business model is just to make profit no matter the source while winning championships and upping the ante for the rest of MLS, then they’re off to a pretty damn good start.

      I want my team to go after championships, Period.

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    • Supposedly Atl has turned down a concrete offer of over 19 mil, but who knows how much he’ll actually go for? It’s kind of uncharted territory for an MLS club trying to get top dollar for a player.

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    • Helps to have a billionaire owner who hates losing and likes to be on the field at the end of the game for a winner ala Jerry Jones but without the wanting to run the club part though. Folks don’t give Blank enough credit for what he’s done with the Falcons too. Falcons were a garbage franchise on the level of Cleveland or Oakland before Blank bought the team. They’ve been to the playoffs at least every other year and played in two Super Bowls since he bought the team. What he’s done for Atlanta United should be no surprise if you watched how he reorganized the Falcons organization. We ATL fans are lucky to have him and he’s the Final DP.

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