This is an “amateur scouting notebook” type post for Thiago Almada, Atlanta’s newest DP signing, a 20-year old attacking midfielder/playmaker from Velez Sarsfield who looks to slot in on the left hand side of a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 for Gonzalo Pineda’s Atlanta United in 2022.
I ate a bunch of tape on Thiago Almada and combed through all the data I could find. Perhaps, we start by framing this up based on how the manager Pineda sees the player, or what type of contribution he expects from him. Before the signing was officially announced but with rumors spreading that the deal was finally done, Pineda hopped on ExtraTime Radio and spoke only somewhat hypothetically about Atlanta United’s highly anticipated new third designated player, with everyone very aware of who he might have been describing:
We are talking about a player who is going to be creative and produce goals and assists in the final third.