Maybe Miguel Almirón just needs the ball more

His totals are down. Does that mean he's done?

As the latest Atlanta United player to give away the ball to the wrong team directly in front of goal this season, it’s Miguel Almirón’s turn in the crosshairs of fans (and bloggers) trying to figure out who’s at fault for all this.

I think we can start that discussion with a “multiple things can be true” statement.

1. Miguel Almirón is a good soccer player AND

2. He’s not currently playing up to the level expected of him AND

3. The signing itself is, on a notable level, a miss in some way simply because he’s not fulfilling the role Atlanta brought him in to fulfill.

I’ll start with point three. The club brought Almirón in to be a winger in a 4-2-3-1 system that provided width and pace out wide as an option for Alexey Miranchuk. Something in the process here got misaligned. Almirón never seemed content to operate within the confines of a role as a true winger. How and why that happened despite what he and the team certainly discussed about his role during the signing process is unclear. Maybe Almirón was never going to be the kind of wide player the club hoped (and scouted) for? Maybe Almirón just decided that he needed to save the team from itself and felt the need to go a bit rogue? Maybe a bit of both?

Either way, Alexey Miranchuk, in part due to his own performance and in part due to Almirón's positioning, is no longer operating as a more traditional No. 10 playing centrally. Ronny Deila, in part due to the team’s defensive issues and Almirón’s positioning, is no longer running his preferred 4-2-3-1 setup.

That doesn’t mean the signing is, or will be, a failure. Almirón can still be a highly productive player even if it isn’t in the way Atlanta designed this offseason. We’ve seen it before in Atlanta. The problem, of course, is that he hasn’t been that player yet.

Now, there are lies, damned lies and FBref radar charts. But this paints a clear picture. He’s not creating chances or finding chances at anywhere near a DP level.

It brings up a question you might have heard me wrestle with in real time on the podcast this week: Is he washed or is his underperformance the byproduct of being on a struggling, incohesive team?

The first thing I’ll point out is that while he may have lost some burst and some top-end speed, he’s still got plenty of pace. Per MLS data provider, Sportec, he’s third on the team in top speed, checking in just behind Latte Lath (21.7 mph) and Matt Edwards (21.6) at 21.5 miles per hour. In MLS as a whole, that speed is right on par with standout wingers like Denis Bouanga (21.5 mph) and Gabriel Pec (21.5 mph). Almirón is also 15th in MLS as a whole in “distance covered via intensive run”, basically “how much ground are you covering at high speed.” For reference, Saba Lobjanidze is fifth. Almirôn isn’t quite elite anymore, but clearly still has a motor.

He’s also beating people off the dribble with some regularity. In 2018, per FBref, he averaged 2.31 successful take-ons per 90. In 2025, he’s averaging 1.62. That’s a drop off in quantity, however, he’s actually beating people off the dribble more consistently. On the left is 2018 Almirón, and on the right is 2025 Almirón.

To be fair, Almirón is giving the ball away a little more often in 2025 (he’s been dispossessed 1.49 times per 90 rather than 1.47 and registers a “miscontrol” 2.07 times per 90 rather than 1.80). Those giveaways tend to look a bit clumsier than most too, but he’s never been here for the aesthetics.

In general, though, he’s still making positive things happen when he does get on the ball and isn’t picking out a Red Bulls player to give an assist to. Per American Soccer Analysis’ goals added metric (aka G+), Almirón is first on the team in goals added per 96 and 14th in the league among attacking midfielders and wingers. Just to lay out the group that puts him in…

11. Orlando City DP Martín Ojeda - 0.07 G+ per 96

12. LA Galaxy DP Gabriel Pec - 0.07

13. San Diego FC DP Anders Dreyer - 0. 07

14. Almirón - 0.06

15. Orlando City DP Marco Pasalic - 0. 06

16. Toronto FC DP Federico Bernardeschi - 0.06

17. New England DP Carles Gil - 0.06

Almirón hasn’t been otherworldly, but, at least per goals added, he’s been impacting the game (at least in some ways) at a DP level. That’s good company in an all-encompassing statistic that basically asks, “Are the actions you’re taking part in during the soccer game helping your team win games?”

He could certainly be impacting the game for the better more often. G+ isn’t perfect, and even if we were solely rating his performance through G+, he’s a far cry from the 2017 and 2018 versions of himself. He’s even relatively far down the all-time G+ list of Atlanta’s attacking midfielders and wingers. “Bad” or “washed” doesn’t feel accurate, though.

Which brings us to