TM Community Votes Atlanta’s Thiago Almada as 2023 MLS Player

Atlanta professional with 28 scorers

Thiago Almada had an incredible 2023 season for Atlanta United. The 22-year-old attacking midfielder scored eleven goals and 16 assists in 31 MLS regular season games and added one goal in the playoffs. These numbers underlined his status as the North American top league’s brightest talent and convinced the Transfermarkt community that Almada was the best player in MLS last year.

The Argentina U23 international was voted TM-MLS Player of the Season with 44.3 percent of the vote. Almada edged out Columbus Crew forward Cucho Hernández (10.7%), Orlando City playmaker Facundo Torres (10.1%), LAFC scorer Denis Bouanga (6.8%) and Cincinnati star Luciano Acosta ( 5.8%).

“First of all: thank you very much,” Almada said about the award to Transfermarkt.us. “Secondly: Yes, it is an important award for me personally, but I would also like to thank all my teammates because this is also their achievement. I’m happy about the award and hope that I can continue like this.” For Almada, it was almost confirmation of a successful 2022 season, in which he became the first active MLS professional to become world champion with Argentina. “I think after the World Cup it was very important for me to achieve such a goal,” said Almada.

It wasn’t always a given that Almada would be part of the Argentina squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Atlanta United signed what is now the second most valuable MLS professional at 27 million euros in February 2022 for a record fee of 14.55 million from his youth club Vélez Sarsfield. From the moment Almada signed, it was always expected that he would also break the record for the most expensive departure from an MLS club. This has been held by Miguel Almirón since 2019, who also left Atlanta for Newcastle United for 24 million euros.

With this in mind, it was not surprising that Almada initially struggled with the pressure in 2022. He took some time to acclimate but still managed a respectable six goals and seven assists in 29 MLS games in 2022. “I think I would [2023] “I can call it my best year here because I was able to show what I can do on the field and I know that I can give even more, so I hope I can give even more to the club this year,” Almada said the question of his visible step forward in 2023.

Thiago Almada: Premier League clubs interested in Atlanta star?

Given the season Almada played in 2023, it is not surprising that several European clubs have taken notice of him. Over the past five months, the TM rumor mill has linked him to Atlético Madrid, VfB Stuttgart, Chelsea, FC Barcelona, ​​Manchester United and Manchester City, among others. Almada did not want to comment on any of these rumors to Transfermarkt. Instead, his focus is entirely on the 2024 season, which Atlanta started with a 0-1 win against defending champion Columbus Crew.

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	T. Almada
	Offensive midfield
Atlanta ? Atletico Madrid Major League Soccer LaLiga

Despite this defeat, Almada, whose contract runs until the end of 2026, is optimistic. “We are working very well,” he answered when asked about preparation for the season. “We want to try to qualify for the playoffs, win a trophy and we want to give our best every day.”

MLS Player of the Year: Almada over Lionel Messi and Idol Riquelme

While Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami may have complicated Atlanta’s path to titles, Almada was happy about it. “As everyone has seen, Leo’s arrival in MLS was very important [für die MLS]. He has given her tremendous growth. You learn something from Leo every game you watch, or in my case, playing with him every day [argentinischen] team was. The will he has to keep winning, even though he has won everything and is the best in the world. He is a great role model for all footballers.”

There is no doubt that Almada admires Messi, but the 22-year-old actually has another Argentine role model: “Of course every player has his own career, his own life, but Messi is a great role model. But for me, the biggest idol was always Juan Román Riquelme.” A comparison that makes sense, after all, Almada is a completely different type of player than Messi and Riquelme, so a better comparison. Like the former Barça, Villarreal and Boca Juniors star, Almada is a classic playmaker with incredible free-kick technique.

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