Miguel Almiron : Something happened to him at Newcastle between June 2019 and November 2021 | OneFootball

Miguel Almiron is the name on everybody’s lips.

Six goals in six games for Newcastle United in October, surely a no-brainer to be named the Premier League’s player of the month.

Miguel Almiron is even Newcastle’s top scorer so far this season, seven goals, one ahead of Callum Wilson.

Still only 28, it is like Newcastle United have signed a new player.

However, did very good player Miguel Almiron ever really go away…?

I have been investigating and I believe something happened to Miguel Almiron at Newcastle United between June 2019 and November 2021.

I have even managed to narrow those dates further, my very strong understanding is that we need to look at the evidence from 17 July 2019 to 20 October 2021.

Here’s a clue, I don’t think it was Jack Grealish we should be looking at.

Let me take you back to when Miguel Almiron first arrived at Newcastle United.

Exactly 45 months ago, Rafa Benitez signing the Paraguayan on the final day of January 2019, deadline day.

Mike Ashley finally allowing an ambitious signing, even though just an average / typical Premier League £20m transfer fee, some 21 months after promotion in May 2017.

That 2018/19 season had started badly, with Mike Ashley having starved Rafa of funds in summer 2018. The then owner forcing the then manager to make a profit of some £20m+ in that transfer window, not even allowing the loan deal for Salomon Rondon until just as the season was kicking off. Unbelievably, Ashley only allowing that Rondon loan on condition he agreed to send Dwight Gayle the other way.

Anyway, by the time January 2019 came around, Rafa Benitez had Newcastle back in the recovery position after a disrupted poor start to the season. Not always the best of football to watch but some decent results seeing NUFC heading on their way to safety, with the players available you couldn’t blame Rafa for sticking to his plan of disciplined defending and at the same time having a decent amount of attacking play against most clubs.

Benitez was delighted to get Miguel Almiron, Newcastle United now able to play in a very different style.

The pace, movement and spark that Almiron gave, meant that suddenly NUFC had a really decent attacking trio of Rondon, Perez and Almiron.

Rafa gave Miguel Almiron freedom to roam and he really sparked a massive change in the final four months of the season. Not only was the football far better to watch but results also were very much on the up.

Indeed, Almiron was the key figure as Rafa Benitez ended his time at Newcastle United with a final 16 game spell, where NUFC not only had the fifth highest number of points 27 ( in those 16 games), Newcastle were also the fifth highest goal scorers, with 26 goals in their last 16 matches of the season.

The new signing didn’t play all of those matches, injury intervening BUT he was the one who sparked the attacking transformation which also equalled far better results.

Nobody benefited more than Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon, between them they scored 13 goals in the final 12 matches. Yes, Miguel Almiron didn’t score a single goal himself BUT his impact on the other players was massive.

Indeed, Miguel Almiron actually paid for his entire transfer fee within months of arriving.

Having scored nine goals in the last twelve Premier League matches of that 2018/19 season, Ayoze Perez was then bought by Leicester for an incredible £30m!!! Miggy (and Rafa) had turned Perez from a £10m ok second striker into what looked a £30m scoring machine.

Since that spell of nine goals in his final 12 Newcastle matches, Ayoze Perez has managed just 12 goals in 72 PL appearances for Leicester.

Jumping back to the present day and we have Eddie Howe managing Newcastle United.

Howe arrived at Newcastle mid-season in a very difficult situation, like Rafa he went for a system that put the emphasis on his team having to be as fit as possible and very disciplined at the back, hard work the order of the day. As last season went on though and Newcastle’s results improved, Eddie Howe also went for a more and more attacking emphasis when he felt he could.

Miguel Almiron was a big part of that and the final stages of the 2021/22 season saw Miggy becoming more and more of a threat, scoring that wonder goal against Palace in late April and then the stand out performance of last year, saw Almiron one of the key pressing and attacking figures as Newcastle blew Arsenal away in the final NUFC home game, ending the Gunners’ dream of Champions League football.

Eddie Howe has seen what Miguel Almiron is capable of, the Paraguayan encouraged more and more in pre-season to be a goal threat, so much so that he had twice as many direct goal involvements (eight, six goals and two assists) than any other NUFC player in the friendlies.

That has carried into this season and seven goals in thirteen PL matches, six in the last six.

If we look back at the evidence from 17 July 2019 to 20 October 2021, we can see a pattern emerging…Miguel Almiron not the only one to suffer. Miggy basically used week after week as an extra defender, his attacking threat all but totally stifled.

With the whole team just basically expected to defend around their own box and then give the ball to ASM in the hope he might do something, now wonder we saw players such as Almiron, Longstaff, Joelinton, Fraser, Schar, Shelvey…indeed, pretty much every player was held back in those two years and three months.

Take Joelinton for example, he arrived at Newcastle United desperate to do well as the club’s new £40m+ record signing, at least twice the fee that previous record holder Miguel Almiron had cost.

Difficult to believe but the first five times he started for Newcastle, Joelinton scored in three of the matches, against Hibs and St Etienne in friendlies, then the winner at Tottenham. I think if either Rafa or Eddie had been in the job, we would have seen a very different Joelinton in those very frustrating couple of years he had to endure at SJP.

Miguel Almiron never complained during those two years and there months, kept on smiling and doing the best he could for Newcastle United.