Atlanta United reportedly signed attacking midfielder Thiago Almada, according to journalist Cesar Luis Merlo.
The player is scheduled to sign the four-year contract Tuesday and will join the club ahead of the 2022 MLS season. Atlanta United hasn’t responded to a request for confirmation. The team has declined to comment on past reports linking it to Almada.
Almada, 20, recently was called up by Argentina’s senior team for the first time. He has 24 goals and 11 assists in 94 appearances for Velez Sarsfield.
Repeating from a story about Almada that was posted last week, how Atlanta United will fit him into its roster remains to be seen.
MLS teams are allowed a maximum of three Designated Players. Those are players whose transfer fees, salaries, agents fee and other costs of acquisition, when amortized over the length of the contract, exceeds $1,612,500 in the 2021 season.
Atlanta United has three Designated Players: Josef Martinez, Ezequiel Barco and Luiz Araujo. MLS teams can buy down the status of a DP by using Allocation Money as long as the annual costs doesn’t exceed the $1.6 million. Atlanta United hasn’t said if any of its DPs can be bought down.
Atlanta United could sell one of the DPs to open a slot. Barco, who has said that he wants to continue his career in Europe, likely would be the candidate. The 22-year-old midfielder is having a career year, with seven goals and seven assists.
There is another possible option for Atlanta United to add Almada and not have to sell anyone.
MLS also has a roster mechanism called the Under-22 Initiative. Each team can have a maximum of three slots if certain criteria are met. Atlanta United’s are filled by Santiago Sosa, Franco Ibarra and Erik Lopez. One of those players could either be moved to the main roster, or their contract can be bought down using Allocation Money to change their status from an “U22″ player to a regular player.
For Atlanta United to do that, Almada’s annual salary can’t exceed the maximum salary budget charge of $612,500. In the Under-22 Initiative, the transfer fee, agents fee and other costs of acquisition don’t factor into the budget charge.
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