Training Ground Notebook: Jay Fortune Talks Staying, Paulo Díaz Talks Fitting In

A new contract, a new center back finding his footing, a new Number 9 nobody has seen play a minute yet, and Charlotte on Saturday. Atlanta United's training ground had a lot going on this week, and three separate conversations kept circling back to the same handful of things.

Tata Martino observes the warm-up ahead of Thursday's training session in Marietta. (photo: Jason Longshore)

Jay Fortune did not have to sign an extension this week. He would qualify for free agency at the end of the season, the kind of leverage most players never get to hold, and his agent made sure he knew it.

"There was some thought, obviously," Fortune said. "The agent just let me be aware of that being a possibility. But for me, I kind of knew from the beginning that this is the place I wanted to be."

He signed a new contract with Atlanta United this week, through the 2028-29 season with an option for 2029-30.

"There's no place in the league that I'd rather be playing," Fortune said. "Best stadium, best fans, gave me my first opportunity, great people that are here."

In addition to the good news of Fortune continuing with the only professional club he has ever known, there was plenty more to talk about from this week.

A center back left, and Martino is not quiet about the visa process for Amaro

Gregersen in his final training session with Atlanta United on Tuesday. (photo: Vanessa Angel for the SDH Network)

Stian Gregersen is gone, transferred to Malmö FF of the Swedish Allsvenskan, a move Martino did not dress up as anything other than roster math.

"In a league where the constant need for money to keep renewing the roster is so necessary," Martino said. "Staying with four center backs of that caliber (TAM) was excessive. If there were opportunities, one of them was going to move on."

He barely got to say goodbye. "We practically didn't see him, because he traveled right away," Martino said. The timing of Gregersen's departure traced directly back to the arrivals of Júnior Alonso and Paulo Díaz, both of whom made keeping four center backs of that level hard to justify.

Martino did not stop there. Asked about Mauricio Amaro, the midfielder signed August 7 who spent most of the month unable to train with the group, he turned the question into something closer to a complaint about how the league itself operates.

"The money was paid more than twenty days ago, the salary is being paid," Martino said. "Meaning Atlanta United is paying a salary and a transfer fee for a player we still don't have. Whose responsibility is that? The league has to assist clubs in cases like this, and the league has to work with the government, because these are specific cases, and I'm spending money, and the money I spend is so the league keeps getting better."

Amaro's visa cleared roughly twenty days after his signing was announced, progress Martino acknowledged without letting go of the larger point. It is easy, he said, to talk about how much the World Cup meant to the country. However, the visa process in this case and some others, dragged on way too long. It's difficult for the player, for the club, and for the fans to understand.

Nobody has seen Breel Embolo play a competitive minute. Everybody is already talking about him.

Three separate conversations this week, with three people who do not appear to have compared notes, all showed excitement about the arrival of Breel Embolo.

Martino talked about him in terms of system fit, a striker who is supposed to participate in how Atlanta builds its play, not just finish it. "He has that, and does it well," Martino said, "beyond having a presence in the box because of his size and technical ability. He's a player who links up a lot in the team's play, and that's very good for us."

Paulo Díaz, who has only seen Embolo on video so far, talked about him in terms of relief. "A lot of times the ball comes right back to us quickly, and in some moments we're tired from defending," Díaz said. "He'll [give us] a breather. I'm hoping he can get into training with us soon so we can see his qualities."

And Fortune, who has crossed paths with him at the training ground, kept it simple. "He's been a great guy so far," Fortune said. "It'll be great to see him in action, in games, to see what he's able to bring for the team."

Embolo signed August 23 from Stade Rennais on a Designated Player deal running through the 2029-30 season. There is optimism that because of his participation in the World Cup, his visa process will not drag out as long as it did for Amaro.

Paulo Díaz is still catching his breath, literally

Díaz made his first start since February 22, back when he was still at River Plate, and it came against Sporting Kansas City. He felt it in his legs before the final whistle.

"It had been a long time since I'd started from the beginning, and it was tough on me," Díaz said. "In the final minutes I felt a little fatigued. I held up pretty well until the 70th minute, and after that he had to make the substitution. But I'm feeling much better as we go."

What he is bringing while he builds that fitness back up is what Martino keeps pointing to. "He has good handling of the first pass, even anticipating the pass, which isn't easy to find in center backs," Martino said. He and Júnior Alonso have also started closing something less visible, a communication gap that had lingered in the locker room.

"If a Chinese player, an American, and an Italian are all trying to talk, communication probably isn't smooth," Martino said. "Here, the sense we have now is that we're working with a common language that lets us communicate and solve things faster."

Díaz is still adjusting to the speed of it all, coming from a River Plate side built to keep the ball. "There are a lot of very fast transitions, the ball doesn't move through midfield much," he said. "We want to try to build a bit more of a possession game, so we can rest with it too."

He was also asked about his former club River Plate's penalty shootout exit in the Copa Sudamericana, which happened the night before this press conference. "It really hurts me, because I became a fan of the club too after so many years there," Díaz said. "The boys played a great match. Unfortunately, in an unlucky moment, the penalty happened." He asked to send strength to his former teammates and hoped they could find their way out of the moment.

There is a lighter thread running alongside all of it. Leandro González Pírez, Díaz's old River Plate center back partner and part of the leadership group from Atlanta United's first era under Martino, has been popping up in the Instagram comments since he arrived in the city. Díaz laughed off the routine, then gave González Pírez his due on one specific point.

"He's really good on the grill," Díaz said. "I hold my own, but he's really good."

What Charlotte brings, according to the man who has to stop it

Saturday's matchup drew the most detailed scouting answer Martino gave all week, and it started with what went wrong the first time these two teams played.

"There's something that hurt us a lot in the first match," Martino said. "When we're attacking with a lot of numbers forward, they counter very quickly. Whoever plays up top for them, four very important forwards, do a lot of damage when they have space."

The name he kept circling back to in midfield was Luca de la Torre, who Martino described as a problem specifically because he will not stay in one place. Some matches he plays as a free man behind the striker. Others he shows up wide right. "We're going to have to be very careful depending on where he ends up playing," Martino said. Behind him sits Ashley Westwood, the player Martino called the midfielder that everything runs through.

Júnior Alonso set the tone for how Atlanta wants to treat the match days before Martino or Díaz were even asked about it, telling reporters after the Kansas City win that the games left on the schedule need to be played like finals. Both picked up the phrase independently when it came back around to them.

"I agree with him," Díaz said. "I think all matches should be played that way, because we always have to put everything on the line to get results."

"We're in finals mode right now," Martino said, "like we're already playing playoff soccer."

The pathway Fortune is trying to keep open

Back to Fortune, because the trailblazer question is where his answer got the most specific.

Asked what it means to be the first academy product to get this kind of deal, he did not talk about himself for long. He named George Campbell who is now captain at West Bromwich Albion, Caleb Wiley at Chelsea (and announced as heading out on loan to Preston North End yesterday), George Bello at LASK in Austria. "Those are all guys who went through different pathways," Fortune said, "and look at where they are now. They're excelling."

Then he turned it forward, to the group actually coming up behind him. Cooper Sanchez, who Fortune said got one chance and has been improving every time he steps on the field since. David Ilevbare, the sixteen year old academy midfielder, who is fresh off an MLS NEXT All-Star selection. Andrew Jardines, recently signed to Atlanta United 2, who is joining the first team on a short-term agreement for the match against Charlotte.

"When they do good, we all do good," Fortune said. "We'd like to see even more guys joining us with the first team, in training and playing."

He is still working back to returning himself, doing individual work as he builds back from the hamstring injury that slowed down his great form after missing almost a full year with a foot injury. But the contract sitting in front of him this week was never really about proving something to Atlanta United. By his own telling, it was the other way around.

"It showed that they valued me," Fortune said. "That they wanted me to be here as well."

Atlanta United hosts Charlotte Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Pregame coverage on 92.9 The Game starts at 6:30 p.m. with Madison Crews and Abe Gordon, kickoff is set for 7:40 p.m. with Mike Conti and Jason Longshore. You can also listen on the Audacy app.