Atlanta United: Leandro Gonzalez Pirez departure not the problem

This season, Atlanta United have struggled to fill out their defence thanks to massive injury problems. But losing Leandro Gonzalez Pirez in the offseason was not the problem.

Atlanta United suffered what many considered to be a troubling offseason. After building one of the best teams in Major League Soccer history, the Five Stripes saw several of their assets stripped as they struggled to maintain their roster under the stringent league salary cap.

Julian Gressel, the club’s leading assister, Darlington Nagbe, the crucial central midfielder that is the cornerstone of the team, and also Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, who, bar Miles Robinson’s emergence as an elite MLS centre-back, was the prime…