Thiago Almada's Atletico Madrid move sums up the transfer industry in 2025

This weeks transfer of Argentinian midfielder Thiago Almada from Brazils Botafogo to Spanish club Atletico Madrid is a good example of the complexity of the modern global football transfer market.

Almadas arrival was announced by Atletico with a short statement on Tuesday evening.

The move caught some in Spain by surprise, given the La Liga side had already signed creative midfielder Alex Baena from Villarreal for a reported 50million (43.3m/$58.2m) and were in the process of completing the arrival of U.S.

international midfielder Johnny Cardoso from Real Betis for around 30m.

But Almada had long been on Atleticos radar.

Advertisement Months after the Argentina international first joined Botafogo in July last year from MLS side Atlanta United for an initial $21million (15.6m at the current rate), the Brazilian clubs majority owner John Textor told the Ole Sports Summit that a friend at Atletico had initially recommended he take a look at the player.

That tip-off worked out well.

In just six months with the Rio de Janeiro-based team, Almada helped win the Brazilian Serie A title and their first ever Copa Libertadores trophy South Americas Champions League equivalent.

In January, he joined Lyon of Frances Ligue 1 top flight, another club owned by Textors Eagle Football Group (which is also a shareholder in Crystal Palace of the Premier League, although it is about to sell its 43 per cent stake to Woody Johnson, owner of the NFLs New York Jets but thats a whole other story), on loan for the rest of the season.

Almada scored twice in 20 appearances across all competitions to help them qualify for next seasons Europa League ( another complicated story also involving Palace ).

Lyon initially wanted to buy Almada outright, with a 27million purchase price put in place during the winter transfer window, but Ligue 1s DNCG (Direction Nationale du Controle de Gestion) management committee would not allow this, due to the clubs deep financial issues, so Botafogo needed to find different takers for the 24-year-old.

Benfica of Portugal were among the clubs interested but Atletico presented themselves as a solution and, on Thursday, Almada signed a five-year deal with the La Liga heavyweights, while posing for the cameras with their chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin.

Exact details of the deal to take him to the Spanish capital were not made public but sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, say Botafogo will receive around 23million up front, plus add-ons, depending on performances.

Atletico are happy to have Almada but signing him means they now have four non-EU players on their books and La Liga rules only allow three such players in your squad, so one of Brazilian winger Samuel Lino, English midfielder Conor Gallagher and Argentine right-back Nahuel Molina will have to leave for the newcomer to be registered with the league.

Advertisement Negotiations over Almada were made easier as he shares an agent, Augustin Jimenez, with Angel Correa, who was last week sold to Mexican club Tigres after 11 years with Atletico, and another Argentina international at the club, Rodrigo De Paul.

De Paul is also close to leaving to join Inter Miami and link up with his national-team captain Lionel Messi at club level.

Atletico are open to the idea: De Paul is 31 years old, has less than 12 months left on his contract, and is also one of the best-paid members of the squad, costing them around 13million a year (including tax) in wages.

Miami, however, do not currently have a free designated player spot for De Paul to fill, so it is difficult for them to pay him anything close to his current salary.

A potential solution could be to join Miami initially on loan, with Atletico covering some of his wages in the short term, but the La Liga club would prefer a permanent move this summer.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles headquartered firm named Ares Management has a financial interest in all of Atletico, Botafogo, Lyon and Miami.

The company has provided 400million in funding to Textors Eagle group, which includes the Brazilian and French sides, invested 220m in Atletico Holdco, the company which is the Spanish teams majority shareholder and provided $225m to help Miamis establishment and growth in MLS since the club was founded in 2018.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, less than eight hours after Atleticos signing of Almada was announced, Spanish business newspaper Expansion reported that another U.S.

firm, Apollo Global Management, was in negotiations to invest in the clubs ownership structure.

Atletico sources confirmed they were talking to many potential investors as they look for funding for an 800million Sports City project on land it owns surrounding their Estadio Metropolitano home ground.

The scheme involves building a new training complex for Diego Simeones first team, public facilities for golf, padel and skating, and what is planned as Europes biggest inland surfing centre.

Advertisement The connections go even further.

In a personal capacity, Jim Miller and Mark Affolter, who hold senior positions at Ares, and Inter Miamis president Jorge Mas are part of the ownership group at Spanish second-division side Real Zaragoza.

Raul Sanllehi, once of Arsenal, was Zaragozas CEO from March 2022 until being named Miamis president of football operations last June, and the MLS teams chief soccer officer Alberto Marrero previously ran Atleticos sister clubs in North America: Atletico San Luis of Mexicos Liga MX and Canadian Premier League club Atletico Ottawa.

There is absolutely no suggestion that any of the clubs or individuals involved in any of the deals mentioned in connection with Almadas move to Atletico Madrid have done anything wrong, legally or morally.

Almada could well turn out to be a very good investment for them he has four goals in 10 international appearances, was part of Argentinas triumphant 2022 World Cup squad and, having turned 24 in April, is at an age where he should be coming towards the prime years of his career.

Yet, all the links detailed in this article illustrate the complexity of the modern football industry, and the many financial and personal ties which bind together different clubs in various leagues across many continents.

(Other contributor: Guillermo Rai) (Top photo: James Gill Danehouse/Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.