The footballer once deemed too frail to play professionally
In short: Before commanding £21 million transfer fees and playing in the Premier League, Miguel Almirón faced rejection. Coaches dismissed him as too lightweight for the professional game, ignoring the talent that would eventually make him a star for Atlanta United and Newcastle United.
Born in 1994 in the San Pablo neighbourhood of As/unción, Almirón's early life was defined by significant hardship. Growing up in an impoverished household, he shared a bedroom with six family members and slept in the same bed as his mother until he was 18. While Sonia was employed at a supermarket, his father Ruben performed 18-hour duties as a security guard. His childhood in Asunción was marked by extreme density, as seven people occupied just three bedrooms. He began his formal training with Club 3 de Noviembre when he was only seven years old.
His path to professional football was far from certain. During his youth, coaches at Club 3 de Noviembre considered him too frail to succeed, and he was later rejected by Club Nacional due to his lightweight physique. It was only after moving to Cerro Porteño that he found a path to the under-17 side, eventually launching a career that saw him move to Argentina's Lanús in 2015. He eventually found stability within the Cerro Porteño system, though he struggled to secure regular playing time until reaching the under-17 level. This period of development preceded his 2015 transfer to the Argentine club Lanús.
Almirón's career trajectory is marked by record-breaking moves. After winning the Argentine Primera División in 2016, he joined Atlanta United for approximately $8 million. In 2019, he moved to Newcastle United for a fee believed to be around £21 million—a club record and the highest fee ever paid for an MLS player at that time. Despite the physical setbacks of his youth, he became a standout performer, earning multiple MLS Best XI selections and Premier League Player of the Month honours in October 2022.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Miguel Almirón
- Also: Wikidata — Miguel Almirón · CC0
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