Arsenal are tracking Major League Soccer side Atlanta United’s Miguel Almiron. The 23-year-old attacking midfielder joined Atlanta ahead of the current MLS season and has helped his team qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs. Almiron could be available in January.
Who is Miguel Almiron?
Almiron is a Paraguayan international, who signed with Atlanta in December 2016. He joined the new MLS team as a Designated Player, which allowed the club to pay him a salary outside of the league’s restrictive salary cap. The attacking midfielder has already made a huge splash for the upstart team. In 29 matches, Almiron has tallied nine goals and 13 assists.
Although some British media sources have stated the player joined Atlanta for £12 million from Argentina’s Lanus, other sources report the American club paid just £6.75m for him.
Miguel Almiron price tag
The Paraguayan has quickly become a hot commodity for teams looking for a true No. 10. Arsenal are said to be highly interested. Inter Milan are also thought to be ready to bring him to Europe. Although Transfermarkt.co.uk values Almiron at just under £6m, the Metro states he could fetch closer to £20m.
MLS and transfer
The biggest transfer sale in MLS history came in 2008 when the New York Red Bulls sold striker Jozy Altidore. The American was sold for £6.5m to Villarreal.
MLS is known as a league that doesn’t sell top players. The league doesn’t want to be thought of as a ‘selling league’. According to MLS executives, they believe this would diminish the league in the eyes of fans.
However, Atlanta have already shown they are one of MLS’s more forward thinking teams. Not only did the team splash money on Almiron and scout players better than many of their contemporaries, but reports indicate the club want MLS to change some of its more restrictive rules.
Almiron currently makes a base salary of $1.13m with a total compensation of $2.3m. A move to Arsenal or to another European side would see him double that figure at the very least.