This is happening.

Scoops, Merlo and Romano confirm what you already wanted to think you knew

Good afternoon.

Tom Bogert, Ben Jacobs, César Luis Merlo and Fabrizio Romano have all independently confirmed that Miguel Almirón is coming home.

Obviously, there’s still some work to do. It’s up to you personally to put enough positive energy into the universe to prevent the upcoming medical from finding that Almirón is missing half a femur or something. But barring that (or another unforeseen disaster), this is getting over the line.

The only real surprise here is the reported length of the contract. Almirón will be 31 on Feb. 10. In a perfect world for Atlanta United, one or one and a half (?) or two (and a half?) of those years will be option years. However, it’s not a perfect world for Atlanta United. It’s more a world where it takes a little extra convincing to get a player like Almirón to come back to MLS. There’s a decent chance that Almirón could be getting guaranteed money over the next four (and a half??) years.

The good news is that we won’t be in the dark on this for long. Atlanta will be transparent about the details of the contract. We’ll know the structure unless the club has had a sudden change of heart.

When he arrives, he’ll join a team that still has a long way to go to return to what he left in 2018. And it may be a team that could look very different based on how the cards fall the rest of the offseason. Almiron is the first major domino to fall. Emmanuel Latte Lath—or whoever the DP striker ends up being—should be next. From there, Atlanta and Chris Henderson could potentially stay busy. Trades, a buyout, another new signing or two, they’re all on the table. It wouldn’t be a shock to see one more big move come down. Considering the truckload of GAM Atlanta are carrying around—remember, they officially have the most in MLS—a trade feels like a distinct possibility. Not a probability, but a possibility.

Anyway, once Almirón arrives, I still think it’s likely that he plays as an inverted winger on the right side of Ronny Deila’s preferred 4-2-3-1. Remember, you have to be relatively particular about what side you put Almirón on considering how reliant he is on his left foot. Basically, putting him on the right side would allow him to cut inside and take more shots on goal while putting him on the left would likely mean more crosses than shots.

Deila has the final say of course, but a couple of indications from Garth Lagerwey have me thinking that Almirón is coming here to score, not to create. The creative burden will fall on guys like Alexey Miranchuk, Mateusz Klich, and two-footed Saba Lobjanidze.

“If we can achieve that dynamic, that stretching of the field, it doesn't have to be just the striker [making runs], right?” Lagerwey told Five Stripe Final. “For example, the player who I think will ultimately benefit the most, if I'm being totally transparent, is Saba. And you say, well, Saba, was your best player last year. I agree with that. But you know, what would make Saba really, really good is if he was the third or fourth attacking option, right? Because if you look across his career, he has more assists than goals…

“…if you said one thing that he does the best, his first-time balls across are exceptional. And he's able to pick out the guy at the back post. He's able to pick out the guy at the near post. He's able to cut the ball back. Like, anything you want, he can do technically. And that if all of a sudden, instead of just one player who can run—Thiare was the one player who ran behind—now, all of a sudden, you have three options. That's gonna make him dramatically better as part of the group.”

Regardless of where Almirón lines up, this is still the most exciting Atlanta United signing…ever? You can expect a lot more of this over the next few (and a half???) years.

This is happening.