Arsenal were heavily linked with a move for Miguel Almiron and before the winger sealed his move to Newcastle United it seems the club tried to get him on loan.
At one stage it was reported that Arsenal had agreed a deal to sign Almiron on a permanent deal however that story vanished as quickly as it surfaced.
That didn’t stop Arsenal’s name being linked with a move and then his agent claimed Arsenal tried to get him on loan.
Daniel Campos, representante de futbolistas: "El Arsenal y el Southamptom ofrecieron un préstamo por Miguel Almirón pero nosotros no queríamos darlo a préstamo" @ABCCardinal
— Bruno Pont (@BrunoPont) February 26, 2019
When his deal with Newcastle was finally agreed, I took a more in-depth look at how he ended up at St. James’ Park instead of the Emirates….
Miguel Almiron is now Newcastle United player but at the tail end of 2018 it was reported that he had agreed to join Arsenal, so what happened?
Miguel Almiron became a Newcastle United player for a fee of around £21m but it seems as if Arsenal had a real interest in the attacking midfielder, at least for a while.
READ MORE: Miguel Almiron scout report – An MLS star in waiting
Arsenal were first linked with a move for the Paraguay international back in 2016 when his agent admitted the club had made an approach for the player that ‘didn’t go any further’.
At that time, it was expected a fee of around €10m would be enough to seal a deal. Those comments came two days after it was reported Arsenal had agreed a €9.4m deal for him.
Nothing came of that and Almiron headed to the States to sign for Atlanta United and it all went quiet on the Arsenal front until October 2018.
A quote emerged at the start of that month that was reportedly from Atlanta’s president, Darren Eales, that claimed a deal was done with Arsenal that would see the player move in January for £11.5m but it didn’t take long for these quotes to be dismissed as fake news.
The Darren Eales quote on Miguel Almiron is made-up. Fake news, you might even say.@JPW_NBCSports @ariellec @NutmegRadio @DiCiccoMethod @arseblog https://t.co/yIHBeB61AY
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) October 5, 2018
Newcastle then entered the equation but right up until December, Arsenal were still said to be holding an interest even though the MLS wanted a big fee and Arsenal had no money.
Arsenal’s interest in Almiron is lengthy and genuine but it seems as if money could be the reason they bowed out of any deal.
Atlanta were adamant they wanted a decent fee for the player, and while they were hoping to get in excess of £30m for him, they’ve settled for £21.6m which still represents a profit of £14.85m.
If you’d like to know more about Almiron, click here for a profile we got Christopher Weeks, who lives Stateside, to put together when we were first linked.
It has been updated, in parts, for this season but was written before his move to Newcastle.
