Thiago Almada has confirmed that he is on the verge of joining Atlanta United during the next transfer window in January.
Almada, 20, is an attacking midfielder who currently plays for Velez Sarsfield in his native Argentina. He has scored 24 goals with 10 assists in 93 appearances across all competitions for Velez.
Atlanta United declined to comment.
Almada has been quoted several times saying that he would prefer his next move be to a club in Europe. However, on Thursday, he was quoted by different publications that he, his representative and family have decided that he will join Atlanta United.
How Atlanta United will fit him into its roster remains to be seen.
MLS teams are allowed a maximum of three Designated Players. Those are players whose transfer fees, salaries, agents fee and other costs of acquisition, when amortized over the length of the contract, exceeds $1,612,500 in the 2021 season.
Atlanta United has three Designated Players: Josef Martinez, Ezequiel Barco and Luiz Araujo. MLS teams can buy down the status of a DP by using Allocation Money as long as the annual costs doesn’t exceed the $1.6 million. Atlanta United hasn’t said if any of its DPs can be bought down.
Atlanta United could sell one of the DPs to open a slot. Barco, who has said that he wants to continue his career in Europe, likely would be the candidate. The 22-year-old midfielder is having a career year with seven goals and seven assists.
There is another possible option for Atlanta United to add Almada and not have to sell anyone.
MLS also has a roster mechanism called the Under-22 Initiative. Each team can have a maximum of three slots if certain criteria are met. Atlanta United’s are filled by Santiago Sosa, Franco Ibarra and Erik Lopez. One of those players could either be moved to the main roster, or their contract can be bought down using Allocation Money to change their status from an “U22″ player to a regular player.
For Atlanta United to do that, Almada’s annual salary can’t exceed the maximum salary budget charge of $612,500. In the Under-22 Initiative, the transfer fee, agents fee and other costs of acquisition don’t factor into the budget charge.
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