River Plate has struck a verbal agreement with Atletico Madrid for the 25-year-old attacking midfielder, Thiago Almada with personal terms already settled between the club and player. What’s left now is the paperwork — River and Atletico still need to review contracts and work through the formal steps before the move is confirmed.
The fee being discussed sits around €20 million, a figure that lines up with what Atletico paid to sign Almada from Botafogo just over a year ago. It would also rank among the biggest incoming transfers in River Plate’s history.
For Almada, the move ends a difficult spell in Spain. He arrived at Atletico with plenty of hype — a World Cup winner in 2022, chased by clubs across Europe and South America after standout years at Atlanta United and a loan spell at Lyon. But he never nailed down a regular role under Diego Simeone. A muscle injury in September derailed his early progress, and he struggled to break back into the lineup afterward, finishing the season with just three goals and one assist in 27 LaLiga appearances.
River, for their part, have been building toward this for weeks. Talks reportedly moved from informal contact to serious negotiation as the club’s leadership pushed to land one of the more high-profile South American names available this window. The relationship between the two clubs has stayed cordial throughout, even with Atletico looking to recoup close to what they spent on him.
Almada is currently on international duty with Argentina, and sources close to the deal say any formal announcement will likely wait until after the tournament wraps up. Until then, it’s a green light — not yet a done deal, but close enough that River fans are already looking ahead to seeing him back home.
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