Atlanta United FC inch closer and closer to their debut season next year. But even as the club prepares for a 2017 debut, they are also looking long term, building up an academy of young talent who could play for Atlanta United in the next decade.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitutiontook a look at the expansion club’s first-ever academy selection, which includes 110 players that make up the youth teams ranging from under-12 to under-18 selected over two tryouts.
“We’d love to be that Dallas-type club that is putting homegrown players in the first team,” club president Darren Eales told the newspaper. “That’s why we started the academy as early as we did because we genuinely believe that’s the way you build a club that can be successful in the long term.”
The academy signings are just the latest piece of a puzzle Atlanta have been putting together ahead of the 2017 season after signing their first player in January. The club unveiled an impressive planned training complex last month and announced former Liverpool player Richard Money as their youth academy director.
Read more about the selection process and Atlanta’s youth academy at the Journal-Constitution here.
