Atlanta United received some unwelcome news this week as Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Tito Villalba has left the team’s Florida training camp with an injury.

Villalba has returned to Atlanta to receive treatment for pain in his abductor muscle. Roberson reports that the team doesn’t consider the injury to be of a serious nature but also doesn’t know when he’ll be fully fit and ready to play.

The bad news is, it doesn’t appear as if he’ll be fit for the club’s first preseason match against Nashville SC in a week’s time. Thankfully, there’s still a month remaining for him to recover for the start of the regular season.

Unlike last season, Atlanta’s roster is better equipped to deal with injuries to star players such as this. Players like Julian Gressel, Romario Williams, Brandon Vazquez and Andrew Carleton are all available for Tata Martino to utilize while Tito is on the mend.

Hopefully this is just minor and we’ll see Tito bombing up and down the right flank in Houston come March 3.