Reports from South America on Thursday and Friday have made the stunning assertion that midfielder Thiago Almada is set to leave Atlético de Madrid, just six months after joining the club.
Brazilian giants Palmeiras reportedly have made a formal offer for Almada amid a wave of interest in the player from overseas. Journalist Gastón Edul, an authority on players in the Argentina national team, said Thursday night that the final decision rests with Almada, but it is “very likely” that he leaves Atlético this month.
Similar to the long-gestating outgoing transfer of Giacomo Raspadori, Atlético’s posture in any Almada deal is to make their money back. Six months after purchasing 50 percent of the player’s rights from Eagle Football Group for €21 million, Atleti reportedly are prepared to sanction his exit if Palmeiras meet that same price. The 12-time Brazilian champions seem willing to do so, according to major Brazilian outlet ge.
Almada, who won the Brazilian title and the Copa Libertadores with Botafogo in 2024, has scored two goals and provided one assist over 432 minutes in LaLiga. He started each of Atleti’s first three league games, but a muscle injury knocked him out of contention for six weeks and he has made only one start in the league since.
Part of this is because Almada, Álex Baena and Antoine Griezmann are more or less competing for the same role in the team; Diego Simeone prefers Baena as his starter and Griezmann as his first option off the bench. Simeone iterated this stance Thursday, when Griezmann entered the Supercopa de España semifinal loss to Real Madrid in the 60th minute, while Almada entered on 74 minutes as the coach’s penultimate change.
This is the primary factor driving Almada’s possible departure. The FIFA World Cup starts in five months, and the 24-year-old isn’t getting regular playing time. Even after he claimed that joining Atlético was a dream come true, Almada’s absolute priority is the national team and reaching the World Cup in good form before possibly returning to Europe later in his career.
If it wasn’t evident before that Atlético’s summer transfer window was a disaster, this should clarify that indeed it was. Two players signed during it have serious options to leave the club already; two others, Baena and Johnny Cardoso, have combined to play 90 minutes just once. Yet another, Matteo Ruggeri, has been inconsistent and even timid at left-back, with zero goal contributions to his name across 19 appearances.
In Almada’s case specifically though, I think it would be a shame and a mistake to sell him so soon. He has obvious quality and technical ability in his boots; he demands the ball and he has an innate inventiveness when it’s at his feet.
Almada however is also a player who isn’t comfortable in a 4-4-2, where he has no evident role beyond “maybe he’s a second striker? Idk???” I’m not saying “Simeone should change the formation to suit Almada specifically” — he should do that anyway, given the personnel at his disposal appears much better suited to a 3-5-2, a 3-4-2-1 or even a 4-2-3-1.
But ask yourself: was Almada’s signing really necessary if at least two other players covered his position? Who is primarily responsible for making these signings? Why did they agree to pay €21 million for half of the player’s rights?
