Gonzalo Pineda was accused of breaking the code between Damm and Atlanta United

While Jürgen Damm, his agent, and the Atlanta United board of directors were working internally on the 29-year-old Mexican striker's future, coach Gonzalo Pineda made a statement that, according to sources, triggered the annoyance of both the club and the player himself.

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Sources revealed that the agreement between the club, Damm, and his agent was to keep the negotiations for his departure from Atlanta United private in order to resolve everything in the best way since the MLS team's proposal to renegotiate the contract and reduce the salary was rejected by the 29-year-old.

Gonzalo Pineda did not respect the deal between the player and the club

However, Atlanta United's head coach, Gonzalo Pineda, gave a message to the media on February 2, when it was already impossible to register Damm with any team in Liga MX or most European leagues due to the transfer deadline.

"At this moment he is not in the team's plans, currently he is training on his own and we obviously thank Jürgen for what he has contributed to the team, but at this moment we are looking to go in another direction and I simply hope that the board and his representative look for what is best for him," Pineda said on Wednesday last week.

Damm clarified on social networks that while his future is being defined, he is still training with the youth team at Atlanta United 2 and that he is not willing to reduce his salary, as he has a contract in force for two and a half more years.

Jürgen Damm was not happy with Gonzalo Pineda's statements

"The fact that Gonzalo came out and said what he said, ruined everything. Gonzalo damaged the player's image because at no time did he train alone, he is still training at the club's facilities", said a source with knowledge of the situation between the player and the team.

"The coach was wrong to say those things when the club, the player, and his agent were discussing everything internally and the coach made a statement out of place. The club has already told him that he was wrong to speak at that moment."

For now, what is clear is that neither the Atlanta United board nor Pineda are counting on the player, who has a guaranteed salary of 1 million 582 thousand 509 dollars for 2022, one of the highest salaries in the squad for Damm who barely accrued 790 minutes with the first team between 2020 and 2021 in 24 games played, 8 of them as a starter with 4 assists and zero goals in the MLS, as well as one goal in Concachampions.

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