Performance Reviews: Miguel Almirón

Washed? Or just another player dragged down by the 2025 of it all?

Last offseason we went about creating performance reviews for each player from the 2024 season. A lot of them ended up being pretty optimistic! This…will (mostly) not be that!

Before: Latte Lath and Alexey Miranchuk

Today: NordBord legend, Miguel Almirón

I’ve gotta preface this one. First and foremost, for all the grief I got for the piece about Almirón testing well on his pre-signing physical tests, buddy started 31 matches and played 300 more minutes than he did in 2017. All hail the NordBord.

Second and actually probably more important, I’ve been dreading this performance review. Once we get past, “He didn’t have the impact everyone hoped for,” we’re pretty much done with any consensus takes on Almirón’s season. After that, we’re left with questions about how much of his underperformance is actually his fault, how washed he may or may not be, and whether or not Tata Martino can rescue a disastrous start to Almirón’s second tenure in Atlanta. They’re really hard questions.

I’ll lay out my general thesis at the top here, though: Almirón is still pretty good at this and I tend to think his lack of production can be remedied in the right system.

Atlanta, of course, thought they had him in the right system at the start of the year. They believed they had a player ready to be a true winger in an attack built around Alexey Miranchuk. Almirón agreed to adopt that role. Then, just a few weeks into the season, Almirón openly stated that he should probably be playing as a No. 10.

Shortly after, Ronny Deila—in an incredible bit of foreshadowing that made me think for the first time that he and this team might be cooked—challenged journalist Henry Higuita during a press conference to name a time Almirón had ever played centrally. Everyone present who was not in charge of Atlanta United immediately said, “Here. In Atlanta. A few years ago.”

There might have been a bit of a disconnect here, huh?

Key Performance Indicators

Playing time: 31 starts, 31 appearances, 2706 minutes

Overlyings: 6 goals, 7 assists

Goals Added per 96: 0.06, the team high

Evaluation