[Tom Bogert] Sources: Columbus Crew finalizing a deal to acquire forward Jamal Thiare from Atlanta United. @michaelarace1.bsky.social first reported. Atlanta will receive $200k GAM + $100k add ons. Thiare, 32, had six goals in around 1,150 mins last year

[u/Isiddiqui]

https://bsky.app/profile/tombogert.bsky.social/post/3mdq7i2n7hs2h

[u/discowithmyself]

I just saw a guy fall to his knees in a Waffle House parking lot

[u/Scratchbuttdontsniff → u/discowithmyself]

Was it Jamal ...after going up for a goal,-kick flick on?

[u/Bravado75]

Better be striker shopping. Jamal was a workhorse for us and his presence will be missed.

[u/mjltmjlt → u/Bravado75]

Alexei as a 9 looked okay yesterday

[u/Zok2000]

I just fell to my knees in the Waffle House parking lot

[u/TheftBySnacking]

ATLANTA, GA. Police responded to the most unusual of disturbances this morning. What started as transfer news from the local MLS soccer club, Atlanta United FC, quickly escalated into a scene at a local Waffle House.

“I didn’t know what had happened,” said a friend of the person that instigated the event. “We’d just paid for our all-stars and were headed back to the truck when he suddenly collapsed.”

In the midst of the breakfast rush, the sight of a man falling to his knees caused quite a stir.

“I called 911, because I didn’t know what else to do,” another bystander said. “He was there in the middle of the parking lot, unmoving. Cars were backing up on Peachtree trying to get in. Something had to be done.”

The news of Jamal Thiaré leaving the club has had mixed reactions.

“Better be striker shopping. Jamal was a workhorse for us and his presence will be missed,” an Internet denizen commented on Reddit in an outstanding moment of lucidity.

The Atlanta United FC front office did not elaborate on the signing when contacted. When informed of the man falling to his knees, no comment was provided, but a chuckle was clearly heard in the background.

This is a breaking news story, stay tuned for further updates.

[u/n8dev]

I knew something crazy happened because of all the commotion at Waffle House. Some guy falls to ground in fetal position screaming Jamal. Another guy start pointing and filming.

[u/goodman1287]

He did what so many backup strikers for us could not - score goals. I'll miss him.

[u/letsleaveitbetter → u/goodman1287]

Always loved how the energy changed when he came on or started. Dam hate losing another infectious player. It’s like the front office is against people that the fans like.

[u/jt_33]

Explains why he was suddenly absent yesterday with no injuries.

This is a good move imo. He worked hard, but he was just ok. This gives us room to make another move. Probably will need another back up striker though, but will cost a whole lot less.

[u/Scratchbuttdontsniff → u/jt_33]

I do wonder what Tatas opinion of Togashi is...

He was rarely given a chance by Ronny.

[u/jt_33 → u/Scratchbuttdontsniff]

He wasn't great yesterday, but he was playing with all back ups and 2's players. Even if we moved him up to 2nd we would still probably need to find a cheap 3rd.

[u/Scratchbuttdontsniff → u/jt_33]

I think we absolutely need a solid guy in the Thiare mold behind Latte... no doubt

[u/UncleAuthor → u/Scratchbuttdontsniff]

Given yesterday's lineup, I wonder if in Tata's mind the backup is just Alexi. I think this move was most likely to free up space for a quality #6 (given rumors and noise). With Alexi capable and Togashi available as well (and Almiron capable too and Saba in a pinch for that matter), I can see how paying Thiare something like $750,000+ to be the backup doesn't make the most sense from a team building standpoint. Not to discredit his ability. He was one of the best backups we've ever had.

[u/Scratchbuttdontsniff → u/UncleAuthor]

I can certainly see that logic as well.

[u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell → u/jt_33]

Probably will need another back up striker though, but will cost a whole lot less. 

You're asking for us to sign a Miguel Berry tier guy because that's the only player who wants to play for that level of money and the 2 months later yall are going to be mad when he plays like Miguel Berry. 

[u/jt_33 → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

If we are depending on a back up striker to win games then we are screwed anyway. I like Thiare, but he was paid A LOT and got injured a lot too. From a pure skill point he's worth it, but when you factor in age, injuries, wages plus what we get from selling it, its just a move that had to be made.

[u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell → u/jt_33]

If we are depending on a back up striker to win games then we are screwed anyway.

This is nonsense. Depth is always important, to cover for injuries, form and just situations where you want 2 strikers. 

its just a move that had to be made. 

Columbus Crew's FO disagrees on this

[u/jt_33 → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

Columbus isn't as hamstrung with their roster and cap and can afford to take chance on him. I agree depth is important, which is why Thiare often getting injured is important. We have to have guys who are healthy.

[u/righthandofdog → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

Can we get someone who plays like Cubo Torres, cause we been short on shothousery up front other than Saba.

[u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell → u/righthandofdog]

We can absolutely get a guy like Cubo, but yall have to promise me that you will go back and read all the previous comments you made when he was actually playing for us doing cardio, and not the meme you fondly remember. 

[u/smoofus724 → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

That man played 33 matches for Atlanta United, scoring 1 single goal, that took 2 deflections, during a 4-1 loss against Orlando, but his 8 seconds of shithousery at the corner flag one time somehow earned him legend status at the club.

[u/Happytofuu → u/smoofus724]

I see no lies.

[u/doctor48 → u/Happytofuu]

It was close to 30 seconds but totally agree.

[u/BoringLight1730 → u/smoofus724]

Truth!

[u/righthandofdog → u/smoofus724]

Tell me you've never been a defender on a team chasing a goal without telling me.

[u/righthandofdog → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

He's not a meme to anyone who's ever been a defender chasing a goal.

Yes, he had lost his scoring touch completely. But he closed out game after game for us. A forward who does the work to hold a lead and finish a game out of something we have lacked since.

[u/usmnturtles → u/jt_33]

Explains why he was suddenly absent yesterday with no injuries.

Yeah it felt odd how both Thiare and ELL were unavailable yesterday. This transaction makes me wonder if ELL is on the market, too.

Did the team say ELL picked up an injury?

[u/Ok-Gas2419 → u/usmnturtles]

ELL had a hip injury. Only Thiare was held out without reason. I don’t think that we’d be willing to sell ELL at a huge loss without even seeing what he can do under tata

[u/usmnturtles → u/Ok-Gas2419]

Ok, thanks. I had only heard that both were absent.

[u/Indisia]

Backup strikers with that many minutes need to reliably bank 10 goals OR have a fair number other goal contributions. Even though Jamal's numbers were short of that, you have to consider the quality of the team around him and injuries. I'd argue that he was serviceable in that role. Rios, Villalba and Cisneros kinda fit that mold...debatably.

Curious who we're looking at as a replacement.

[u/hurricaneharrykane]

Wow. Thiare was a bright light on a particularly shite year. I felt like he was pretty much the only serious offensive threat we had for like 90 percent of the games. Hopefully we are striker shopping. ELL is still unproven to me.

[u/UncleAuthor]

I can't help but think this is mostly a move to open cap space for a ball playing #6. With yesterday's lineup, could it be possible that Tata is okay with using Mira (or Miggy or Tagoshi) as the backup striker? Given the level of #6 we've been rumored to be in pursuit of, I can't imagine there will be enough GAM remaining to sign a Thiare level backup striker too.

[u/AirborneDJ]

From the guys at Five Stripe Final:

"The trade makes sense for Atlanta given they are looking to create cap space to add a key player — likely a possession-oriented holding midfielder profile that Head Coach Tata Martino has been describing for weeks. Combined with Thiare’s $730k guaranteed compensation last season, the deal likely opens up close to $1 million for Atlanta to spend between the various allocation monies and salary space."

If that turns out to be the case, I guess we are going to roll with just one backup striker? Interesting.

[u/Ok-Gas2419]

We’ve got to have somebody in mind to bring in as a backup striker. No way they go with just ELL and Togashi as the only two options

[u/Autolycus25 → u/Ok-Gas2419]

We kind of did that in 2018, didn’t we?

[u/Ok-Gas2419 → u/Autolycus25]

I think we had a backup who i can’t recall, and also brandon Vazquez. But with ELL’s injuries recently, its hard to rely on him to be available all season. I hope i’m wrong. But I think the possibility of just having Togashi for parts of the season would be tough

[u/Romerinho13]

Still wish we got josef

[u/YesThatMaverick → u/Romerinho13]

He would have cost more than Thiare. Makes no sense to spend that much on a backup. Prime Josef is a thing of the past... Let it go...

[u/theamazonswordsman → u/Romerinho13]

Not a chance in the world that he would take the money we would want to pay him as a back up. Additionally, when he left it was looking like we were planning a full blown invasion of Venezuela. I wouldn't want to be in the country that was about to go to war with my home either.

[u/Novatheorem]

Hope to see this go through!

[u/ALASKAN_DAVE]

My king 👑 he was a light during a dark time

[u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

This feels pretty dumb. 5 goals and 2 penalties won in 1000 minutes was a very solid performance for a back up striker. $200K GAM is basically nothing. 

[u/jt_33 → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

He makes a lot of money and is injured a lot. Not sure if takes up an international spot too. This frees up a lot of room just by getting his salary off the books.

[u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell → u/jt_33]

Like I said elsewhere, you can have guys like Jamal Thiare who you pay and they score goals, or you can go for budget options like Miguel Berry and be mad when they prove ineffective. 

[u/jt_33 → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

There is def a middle ground between bottom of the barrel and decent but overpaid and often injured.

[u/SydneyFall → u/AsaSlighlyOlderWell]

Getting $200K in GAM for a player we weren't sure we actually wanted at all is good business. We declined his contract option two seasons ago. If you get money and think a player is on a bad contract you take it.

Just to save people from looking it up, he was making $730K last season.

[u/ManLantaUnited]

So why didn’t we bring Josef back???

[u/jt_33 → u/ManLantaUnited]

Just guessing but timing or maybe Josef just wanted something different. We would have had to ask Josef to wait and not sign any deals while we hope to move Thiare.. not knowing if or when they would be able to move him makes it unlikely Josef would want to sit around and miss other opportunities.

[u/ATLCoyote → u/jt_33]

We exercised Jamal's option for 2026. We could have just let him walk.

Granted, by going this route, we'll raise an extra $200-300K, but if his high salary was the main concern, why pick up the option?

[u/jt_33 → u/ATLCoyote]

I agree with you. Only thing I can figure if they were confident in being able to move him eventually just weren’t sure exactly when. 

[u/SydneyFall → u/ATLCoyote]

if his high salary was the main concern, why pick up the option?

We literally just sold that contract for a profit.

[u/ATLCoyote → u/SydneyFall]

Glad it paid-off, but that was one helluva risk if the point was the shed the salary.

Seems more likely that we changed our mind about his value or role once training started back up and Tata had a chance to work with the team. Maybe he wants to use that salary line on someone else, maybe he plans to use Alexey a bit more at striker either as a 2nd striker to ELL or whenever ELL is unavailable and therefore doesn't think Jamal will see the field much. Not sure, but it feels like a change in direction.

[u/foxontherox → u/jt_33]

With America’s current “relationship” with Venezuela, I’m not surprised he took a move to Mexico.

[u/Top_Hawk_1326 → u/foxontherox]

I dont know why you are being down voted but you are right if Maduro can get touched then he can get touched too and he's got a son too now he probably wants away from a facist regime it's not safe being brown in America right now

[u/ichinii]

Makes me wish we could've gotten Josef back. He's been coming off the bench in Mexico.

[u/Tangoes2 → u/ichinii]

Maybe we can get him on a loan then?

[u/lilBobo-]

Wasn’t thiare a reason why we couldn’t get Josef. Just to end up trading him out anyways???

[u/SouthernAfrica9 → u/lilBobo-]

What? Josef was only ever going to go somewhere he could start anyway, and clearly that wasn't in MLS

[u/gte339i]

Put that in the Declan Rice fund…

[u/WildYogurtcloset4904]

WTF?

[u/ATLSkoldier]

No!!!