Sounders bullish on Josh Atencio's "elite potential" in move from midfield to center back

The Seattle Sounders boasted Major League Soccer’s best defense last season, conceding just 35 goals in 34 matches. Center back Yeimar was named MLS Best XI and his running mate Jackson Ragen was a finalist for MLS Defender of the Year.

With over 40 guaranteed matches in multiple competitions in 2025, the Sounders are still looking to bolster their back line with depth. What they won’t have to do, however, is look very far.

Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer and General Manager & Chief Soccer Officer Craig Waibel confirmed that central midfielder Josh Atencio will transition to center back. The Homegrown from Bellevue, who won’t turn 23 until the end of January, is already entering his sixth MLS season and has logged over 90 appearances.

“If you really deep dive into his profile, our staff believes he has the potential to be elite,” Waibel said of Atencio. “He’s extremely athletic, he’s very good facing the field, his range of distribution, his speed, his turn, recovery speed, but also the way he reads the game. That will be one of the things we take a very, very serious look at and have a lot of belief that we’re right.”

At 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, Atencio is not as big as Yeimar or Ragen, but he still possesses great size to anchor a defense. His skill set also complements playing in a three-center-back system, which Schmetzer has utilized before and will almost certainly employ again in some matches this year.

“Josh has all of the physical characteristics, especially if we go to a back line of five,” said Schmetzer. “Josh has the technical ability to move the ball forward. He’s got to improve on his heading, but he can defend out wide. There are plenty of reasons why his profile fits that position…He’s going to embrace it. He likes it.”

Part of the impetus for Atencio’s move is simply logistical. The Sounders are stacked in central midfield, especially with the return of Cristian Roldan to the double-pivot in Schmetzer’s 4-2-3-1 formation. Over the last half of the season, Roldan reverted to the position where he began his career and played at a level that was arguably best in the league.

Add to the mix the breakout play of fellow Homegrown Obed Vargas and the recently re-signed veteran presence of João Paulo, and the chances of Atencio getting on the pitch in midfield are limited.

“[Atencio] is a talented kid. He’s super talented, but where does he fit?” said Schmetzer. “Josh’s development as a young man, as a soccer player, it’s the right timing. It was congested in [central midfield]. If it doesn’t work, he can always go back to playing midfield.”

Schmetzer even likened Atencio’s story to a former Sounders FC 2 player in Aaron Long, who was initially a midfielder but converted to center back to try and further his career. All it did was lead Long to an MLS Defender of the Year honor with the New York Red Bulls and over 30 caps with the United States Men’s National Team.

The Sounders staff is excited for Atencio to get his center back reps in earnest during preseason, but they’re also realistic about his positional versatility and ability to contribute in central midfield. The opportunities will come quickly as Seattle heads to Guatemala on Feb. 19 for a match against Antigua FC in the Concacaf Champions Cup before opening the MLS season at Lumen Field on Feb. 22 against Charlotte FC.

“It’s not about us being right, it’s about Josh proving himself right,” said Waibel. “He is a really, really good football player.

“It’s impossible to say he won’t be used in the midfield while we look and try to develop him as a center back,” Waibel continued. “I can easily see a world where Josh is a long-term center back for the Sounders over the next seven to eight years of his career. He possesses a lot of traits that would make him elite in that spot.”