Tag: Newcastles

As Miguel Almiron prepares to say goodbye to Newcastle United, it is the right time to pay tribute to a player who may not have been the best winger to have worn the black and white stripes, but none have worked harder or cared more.

This matters more than the modern fan ever seems willing to accept. At least in the divisive world of social media, where it is more common for a player’s shortcomings to be chastised than his qualities lauded.

Almiron had his limitations, especially as a left-footed right winger, who could not cross the ball with his weaker foot. He did not score enough goals, or deliver enough assists, to be considered an elite Premier League winger, but he had pace and stamina and never gave anything less than everything.

As strange as it may sound, that is a rare and precious thing. A player who simply loved playing. A Paraguayan, whose command of the English language has never been more than basic, despite arriving six years ago, who instinctively understood what being a Newcastle player, at its essence, is all about.

Like everyone, I have occasionally moaned and groaned during a game about Almiron. For example, that time against AC Milan, when he tried to tap home with his left foot when he should have gone with his right, allowing the defender to clear.

Or the promising attacking positions wasted, when he chose to cut back on to his left as he did not trust the quality of his right, and the chances missed with weak shots straight at the goalkeeper, but for £21 million – a club-record fee when Rafael Benítez signed him in January 2019 – Almiron still represented fantastic value for money.

The 30-year-old once brought so much energy to the team, putting in a defensive shift as well as an attacking one.

He was not only a crucial component of the side who avoided relegation for three years under Benítez and Steve Bruce, he was superb under Eddie Howe for two years. Without him, Newcastle would not have qualified for the Champions League in 2023.

We are constantly told that all Newcastle fans demand is a player who tries, who wears the shirt with the same pride; soaks it in sweat and cares as deeply about the team as they would do. “Wor Miggy” did all of those things and combined them with an infectious smile that made him impossible to dislike, even when he made mistakes.

You will not hear a bad word said about Almiron from team-mates or staff. He was adored behind the scenes.

He did not have a bad or spiteful word for anyone. He never shirked or complained – even this season when it became clear, having rejected a move to Saudi Arabia last summer, that he was no longer part of Howe’s first-team plans.

His manager has described him as a “model professional” and, throughout their time together, he has always commented on his virtues rather than sniped at his drawbacks.

Newcastle could not have coped without Almiron when Howe first arrived. Kieran Trippier loved playing with him when he was at right-back, because he knew Almiron would always gallop back to help him.

It was Howe who unleashed Almiron’s full potential. He was a willing and reliable workhorse under his two previous managers, arriving from Atlanta United in January 2019, but Howe turned him into a lethal weapon in the 2022-23 campaign.

Signed as a peace offering by former owner Mike Ashley to, unsuccessfully, pacify a combative and disgruntled Benítez, Almiron was better than any of the wingers already at the club.

With Allan Saint-Maximin on the left and Almiron on the right, Newcastle had a decent pair on the flanks under his successor Bruce. Saint-Maximin won games for Newcastle with his skill and flair, but Almiron’s less eye-catching role was just as important to the overall balance of the team. Saint-Maximin rarely tracked back, Almiron would do so all game.

Who could forget the noise and celebrations when Almiron scored his first goal for Newcastle, a late winner against Crystal Palace in his second season at the club? Or the two he scored away from home against West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup when Bruce was under pressure.

However, it was Howe who took his game to another level in 2022. For 18 months or so, Almiron was magnificent.

Insulted the previous summer by Jack Grealish, who had mocked his Manchester City team-mate Riyan Mahrez by saying his performance was so bad “he had played like Almiron” during their title-winning party celebrations, Almiron responded in kind.

He scored in a dramatic 3-3 draw with City in August, and another two away to Fulham, which included a goal-of-the-season contender, a dipping volley from an acute angle that brought back memories of Paolo Di Canio’s famous strike for West Ham.

He scored 11 goals that season and formed a lethal partnership down Newcastle’s right flank with Trippier. Indeed, most of Newcastle’s football was played down that side of the pitch, so effective were they at hurting sides.

Almiron did miss Newcastle’s best chance of the game in the League Cup final defeat by Manchester United that season, but he was an integral part of the best Newcastle side for more than 20 years. People need to remember and, more importantly, respect him for it.

Just as nobody will ever forget the goal he scored against Paris St-Germain, the crucial first in Newcastle’s first Champions League game for two decades, which began a 4-1 thrashing of the French champions. That alone should be enough to ensure Almiron is celebrated whenever he returns to Tyneside.

Almiron’s time at Newcastle is at an end; he is heading back to Atlanta. He is older and the club are evolving. There are better players in his position out there who Newcastle intend to sign in the summer.

But if ever a player has deserved a standing ovation at Southampton last weekend, flanked by his team-mates, shoved to the front by Howe, to hear his name being chanted, over and over again, it is “Wor Miggy”. “La la, la, la, la, la, la, la Miggy Almiron, Almiron, Miggy Almiron…”

The defence may never have been terrified or, indeed, on fire, but Newcastle won the games they did, under three different managers, because they had him in their side. He is not just a long-serving player, he has been, without question, a successful one too.

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