On Tuesday, July 17th, Atlanta United's latest signing Eric Remedi spoke with media for the first time in an introductory press conference at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground. The club's new #11 was joined by VP and Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra to officially welcome the Argentine midfielder to the club and explain a little more in depth about what he will bring to the electric Five Stripes.
"While we're happy with where we're at right now, we still know our best football, our best soccer is ahead of us," said Bocanegra. "We're excited to bring Eric here to Atlanta. We're excited that he chose to come here. [We are] looking for him to come in and compete right away, add competition to the squad and give Tata some more selection headaches."
"Eric fit a lot of the needs we wanted. He's just turned 23, but he has over 50 games played for first team, he's played internationally in Libertadores. So he's played in big games. For me, what I liked about him was he has the experience of his starting points and he has a good feel for the game where he takes up his starting position to read the game very well. And then he hunts the ball and like he said he likes to recover it. So he's a worker, with the style of the play that we have, we're run & gun, we're always on the move, we're pressing, so he was someone that came in and fit that mold that we were looking for and we were able to acquire him."
"I was at Banfield for eight years, but when this opportunity arose to come to Atlanta, I didn't hesitate," said Remedi through a translator. "I didn't doubt it because I know it's a league that's been growing a lot, it's getting more competitive and this is a great club, so I didn't think about it twice."
"I think they're a 10 out of 10. You have everything that you need here. It's not very common to see facilities like this in Argentina and the stadium as well, the atmosphere was amazing, so I'm just excited about everything."
And the Argentine midfielder is just as excited to be in Atlanta as he is to contribute in the center of the park. "I'm going to try and help in the middle of the field...I think I'm a good defender, I try to be very organized, recover the ball in the midfield, and then my job is to recover the ball and give it to our attacking players."
"It's a good group so far and I just want to try and just get adjusted as fast as I can...I'm just trying to get adjusted to the style of football that is played here, it's been very intense so far. I think the football is a little bit more direct, so I'm just trying to get adjusted as fast as I can"
Remedi experienced the wild Mercedes-Benz Stadium atmosphere last Sunday against Seattle, but was not included in the matchday roster. However, their next home match is just days away and Saturday could be the day that Remedi makes his Five Stripes debut as ATL UTD hosts D.C. United.
Watch the full press conference below:
