MLS, Atlanta United’s Almirón conundrum

Article by Matt Lichtenstadter

Atlanta United is in a pickle. As their preseason starts, they have a major dilemma with one of the best players in the league in Miguel Almiron. All of MLS, and a good chunk of the world transfer market knows that Atlanta United want to sell him for a high price. The Five Stripes are trying to hold out for that price, but the clock is ticking on any kind of sale. Part of that boils down to Atlanta’s negotiating tactics, but much of it also has to do with MLS rules and business they’ve done, and everyone knows they’ve done, but haven’t announced that. Due to this, an enterprising club in Europe could be getting a bargain on one of the world’s best up and coming young creative midfielders, and here’s why:

If you’re not hip to MLS roster lingo, each team is allowed three Designated Players, or players whose salaries and transfer fees can go above and beyond the MLS salary budget. How that’s calculated doesn’t matter in this context, but know that Almiron, Josef Martinez and Ezequiel Barco are Atlanta’s three DP’s right now. They also all but bought a fourth in River Plate’s Pity Martinez, who has confirmed the transfer himself, but the club haven’t announced it yet. This is a problem for the Five Stripes. MLS’ roster compliance date is coming, but it’s after the closing of the European winter transfer window. By that compliance date, Atlanta must be down to three DP’s, but in a practical sense, that date is the closing of the European window.

Everyone in MLS knows Atlanta is in a bind as they have four DP’s, one too many, but not many around the world do. Darren Eales, Carlos Bocanegra and company have been holding out for around a $30 million transfer fee, which they’ve held fast to. But, they only have 16 days from this writing to get that fee before their only options to sell Almiron are in China, Russia and within MLS. They will not get anywhere near what they want for him in any of those leagues. In some cases, DP’s can be bought down with targeted allocation money or other mechanisms but none of Atlanta’s DP’s can. What this all boils down to is that with some clever negotiating, a smart club in Europe can get Almiron at a cut price, relative not just to what Atlanta wants, but what he might be worth.

Most of the Almiron interest has come from Newcastle United, but their bid is too low for Almiron right now. Perhaps they know what everyone Stateside does about Atlanta’s roster pickle. Almiron is in training right now with the club, presumably waiting on the January 31stdeadline to see where he ends up. One of Atlanta’s four DP’s will be on the outs, and it looks like either Almiron will be sold for less than what Atlanta values him at, or the Pity Martinez move will be axed.

Why wouldn’t almost every club in Europe be in on this player? He plays with such pace and tenacity on the ball, has incredible vision to pick a pass and is also an underrated finisher. With these qualities, buying him at a cut price $24-25 million, around 21-22 million Euros or 18-19 million pounds, would be an absolute steal. He has Copa America this summer to boost his value even more, and with a good season and a half at any club, his value may easily double. It would behoove any club to take advantage of this situation as best they could, and knowing the rules of MLS makes that even easier to do.

Atlanta’s stated goal of buying players with potential and selling them on for even bigger transfer fees is a wise move. But this means they in the end have to sell those players, even at some instances less than what they value the player at. And with Almiron, they have boxed themselves into a corner. They know MLS’ roster rules, and with their impending Pity Martinez acquisition (which he let slip himself), plus the end of the European transfer window coming in two weeks, they know that they will eventually have to sell for whatever the best offer is, even if its not what they wanted at the start. The opportunity is there for a smart club in Europe to make an offer Atlanta has to take, which means they’ll get an incredibly valuable player perhaps for less than what he’s worth.

A little knowledge of a few arcane parts of the MLS rulebook could go a long way in buying one of the best young attacking midfielders in the world for a relatively cut price.