Atlanta United set to loan Franco Ibarra

Carlos Bocanegra confirmed today that Atlanta United is set to loan defensive midfielder Franco Ibarra to a team inside MLS. The deal is not yet official and Ibarra's new team has not been announced. The loan is for six months. 

Wait, what?

Yup. Not ideal, huh? 

So, what happened?

A few weeks ago, we reported that Edwin Mosquera's loan with Defensa y Justicia had been terminated early. Mosquera returned to the team and has been training with the first team ever since. 

Mosquera, is a U22 signing. Teams are only allowed three U22 signings. Mosquera was originally loaned out because Erik Lopez, also a U22 signing, returned from his loan with the team unable to find a new home for him. Once Mosquera returned, Atlanta had a short period of time to find a new home for one of their U22s before the secondary window opened. The team somehow ended up with this Ibarra loan as the best option. 

Oh man. Now what?

Fortunately, Atlanta announced the signing of central midfielder Tristan Muyumba yesterday. In theory, he can step in as an immediate replacement for Ibarra as soon as his work visa is approved.

Atlanta also announced the trade of Andrew Gutman to Colorado yesterday. In theory, Mosquera could step into the left wing position while Caleb Wiley moves back to left back. We know Wiley will be just fine, but it's totally fair to wonder if Mosquera has the ability to succeed as an MLS player when he hasn't really had success at any professional level so far. Atlanta, of course, has other options at left back and left wing, but this feels like a move you have to work overtime to see silver linings for. 

Because Ibarra has been one of the most encouraging players this season. Before this year it seemed like he'd be the first among the midfield group to go and no one would be too worried when he did. Now he's gone and it feels like a major loss. Ibarra has played a critical role in midfield this year and seemed to truly be coming into his own as a No. 6. He had his limitations of course, but looked to be turning into the most promising player of the U22 bunch and Atlanta's best midfielder.

Feels like there are still a lot of unanswered questions

Sure are. Remember though, we're only seeing one part of the picture right now. It's in the best interest of everyone to give Garth Lagerwey, perhaps the league's best-ever roster builder, the benefit of the doubt.

Have you ever seen one of those artists who start drawing and it looks like a picture of absolutely nothing until they flip it upside down and it's revealed to be like a perfect portrait of Paul McCartney or something? We're in the stage where the picture looks like nothing. Atlanta is drawing upside down. When Atlanta flips the painting upside down, will it be a beautiful picture? Or just more of the same mess? It's unclear right now.

That being said, there's no positive spin here with the Ibarra move. Atlanta lost a starter here. This is not a standard situation. And the team is worse off for it. Even if they get the rest of the transfer window right.