Atlanta United: Julian Gressel forever overlooked

Julian Gressel is a phenomenal player. But the Atlanta United Swiss army knife is forever overlooked. It’s time he was rewarded for his performances.

Atlanta United are a star-studded team. Last season, Toronto FC set the MLS record with 69 points in a season. Atlanta have a very real chance of breaking that record just a year later — they require seven points from their final four games.

They are a tremendous team stocked full of tremendous players. And they have some of the most well-known names in MLS as a key part of their squad. Josef Martinez, Miguel Almiron, Brad Guzan, Hector Villalba, among a myriad of other household individuals.

But there is one key piece of the puzzle that is so easily and so frequently overlooked that is deserving of recognition and praise. He may not play the most glamorous of positions. He may not be the flashiest of players. He may not even make the first XI if all options were fit and available to Tata Martino. But in Julian Gressel, Atlanta have an invaluable worker.

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Gressel has made 29 appearances so far this season. Only Miguel Almiron, Josef Martinez and Jeff Larentowicz have made more appearances for Atlanta than the German and only 12 players in the whole of MLS have played in more minutes, only one of them, Almiron, being an Atlanta player.

Gressel has amassed such vast playing time not necessarily because of his undeniable, unavoidable quality but thanks to his positional versatility, his attitude and commitment, and his game intelligence, meaning that he can fill in at almost any position on the pitch and produce to at least a good standard.

Gressel has played right back, right wing-back, defensive midfield, right wing, central midfield and attacking midfield at some point this season. Most of his appearances have come as a right midfielder, but he has made multiple appearances at five different positions. Only attacking midfield has he featured in just the once.

Atlanta themselves, though, are not ones to underrate the work that Gressel has done. Speaking with mlsscoccer.com, Michael Parkhurst was bullish in his praise for the second-year player:

"“He’s massively important. It’s really impressive given the money that we’ve spent and the amount of players that we’ve brought in, especially on the attacking side of the ball, that a college draftee from last year has played his way into the team and has played so well now for almost two years that you can’t take him out of the lineup. Even when everyone’s healthy and there’s tough lineup choices to be made, he’s played so well and is so important to the team, I don’t think you can take him off the field. That’s a massive credit to him.”"

Gressel is a uniquely useful player. He may not be a uniquely gifted player, although his team-leading 13 assists do suggest otherwise, but he is uniquely useful. And it all comes down to his versatility which is so crucial across a long and arduous season.

He will never grab the headlines like a Martinez or Almiron. He is not the captain fantastic or the all-action midfielder. He is just solid, reliable, consistent, industrious and versatile. And he is essential to everything that Atlanta United do.