Almiron Wage Demands Put Wrinkle in Newcastle’s Plans

The latest reports from The Chronicle are claiming that Newcastle’s pursuit of Miguel Almiron has been obstructed by Almiron’s “astronomical” wage demands.

The Paraguyan roughly makes £44k a week at Atlanta United, and wants to bump that number up to £100k a week.

For context, the average yearly wage for a Premier League player according to Sporting Intelligence's 2018 Global Salaries Report is £2,990,726, or roughly £57k a week. This means Almiron wants to make well above the average Premier League player, which you could argue that a starting Premier League Player’s salary (especially if they were to be one of the best players on a team) should in theory be way above the average.

Newcastle’s current highest paid player is Jonjo Shelvey, who is making roughly £80k a week. Craig Hope of the Daily Mail seems to suggest that £80k is the max Newcastle are willing to give a player, which of course is still £20k less than what Almiron wants per week.

This mindset of not wanting to pay players higher wages is not something new to anyone following the club, as Newcastle have the 4th lowest wage bill in the Premier League according to the aforementioned Global Salaries Report.

Many fans are understandably frustrated that Newcastle are not meeting the wage demands of Almiron, who looks to be a quality player. Chris Waugh points out the simple fat that if you wait until January to do your business, you are going to have to deal with inflated wafges and costs. Additionally, if Almiron is the player Rafa (and the fans) thinks he is, £100k for his wages makes sense as he would be one of the best attacking players in the Northeast.

You can understand the opposite perspective that many fans hold, as they claim it does seem a bit ridiculous that Almiron is demanding so much money when he has not played in European league yet in his career. This the risk that you take with any South American Talent as many of them have not played in Europe before coming to the Premier League. The most recent examples of this are Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison, and Vinicious who only played in Brazil but were snapped up by high level clubs and given high wages based on the potential player they could become. Granted, these are all Brazilian talents, who a lot of people thought were going to be very good, but the same holds for Almiron who is well respected by coaches and media all over South America. Yes it is a risk to pay these essentially unproven players money, but the best teams take risks, albeit they have the money to do so.

From Newcastle’s point of view it makes sense to be wary of yet again overpaying another player as it regards to wages. Newcastle have had great difficulty selling payers who did not work out such as Achraf Lazaar, Massadio Haidara, Henri Saivet and Jack Colback because their wages exceeded their actual value. If Almiron turns out to be a flop it would be nearly impossible to unload him as his wage of £100k a week is not feasible for many clubs ouytside of the Premier League.

None of this matters if Newcastle can’t meet the asking price of Atlanta United. The Chronicle claim that the club “ is ready to break their transfer record for the player”, but that is a narrative we have heard all too often. This really just sounds like yet another convenient excuse for the club to not get a deal done. The most recent news we have heard about Newcastle’s pursuit of Almiron is that they did not meet the asking price of Atlanta United. It does seem strange that this report of them not agreeing on a wage has surfaced, after it is unsure whether or not Newcastle have even put in a decent offer for him.

Again, it seems as if Newcastle are incompetent when it comes to handling transfers, always waiting until the last minute to do everything. The club sucks at selling players, loaning in players, and buying players, so, it is not surprising at all that this deal has been subject to the same delays we have seen time after time here at Newcastle.