Newcastle United are the latest Premier League club to been linked with a move for Atlanta United’s Miguel Almiron.
The Paraguayan playmaker has been superb in Major League Soccer during Atlanta’s first two seasons as a club, but the 24 year-old is expected to move on in January and follow manager Gerardo Martino out of the door.
Per the report from the Daily Mail, Newcastle will hold talks with Atlanta’s representatives around the second leg of their Eastern Conference final against the New York Red Bulls (Atlanta leads the series 3-0). Almiron has scored 12 goals and added 14 assists this season and his overall play saw him named in the MLS Team of the Year.
West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have all been linked with a move for Almiron, but there would be a doubt over whether the silky attacker would be a regular at the latter two clubs.
Newcastle and West Ham would perhaps be a better place for him to land if he wants to play regularly in the Premier League, as Almiron would take a while to adjust to the physicality of the PL. His quality on the ball, vision and ability to start attacks is undoubted.
But can we really see Newcastle splashing out $32 million on a player? If they did, owner Mike Ashley would silence plenty of his doubters about not spending money on new players.
Considering Rafael Benitez’s biggest buy since Newcastle were promoted back to the PL last season has been $15 million on Jacob Murphy, I think we can surmise that Almiron is more likely to end up at Spurs, Arsenal or West Ham.