Report: Atlanta United turned down big money for Miguel Almiron and Josef Martinez

About those transfer rumors, the ones about Miguel Almiron going to AC Milan, or Newcastle or Lille... It turns out that maybe they are closer to reality than they are speculation. Sam Stejskal of MLSSoccer.com is reporting that Atlanta United turned down tens of millions of dollars for Almiron as well as Josef Martinez during the summer.

That’s right, in their first year with the team the front office was being offered double what they paid their star attackers. According to the report, a club offered Atlanta United somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-$25 million for Almiron and another offer came in for Martinez worth about $10 million.

The interest in the players most obviously shows how talented they are. But it also goes to illustrate how Atlanta is playing the MLS transfer game on a different level than any other club in MLS. The lowest number rumored to have been offered would have matched the most ever paid for an MLS player in transfer fees and the amount said to have been presented for Almiron would have at least doubled it.