Welcome, Almada!
Our club and Botafogo have reached an agreement for the transfer of the Argentine footballer, who will wear the red and white for the next five seasons.
Atlético de Madrid and Botafogo have agreed the transfer of Thiago Almada; who will wear the red and white for the next five seasons.
The talented and versatile Argentine 24-year-old can play as an attacking midfielder or as a winger on either flank, whether on his natural right foot or inverted off the left.
Born on 26 April 2001 in Ciudadela (Buenos Aires, Argentina), he came through the youth academy at Vélez Sarsfield, making his first-team debut on 10 August 2018, aged just 17, in a 2–0 victory over Newell's Old Boys.
After making 100 appearances for the Buenos Aires club, he joined Atlanta United in early 2022, spending two and a half years in Major League Soccer. During his time in the United States, Almada scored 26 goals and provided 24 assists in 83 appearances, earning a call-up to the Argentina senior national team. Having previously represented his country at youth level, he made his senior debut under Lionel Scaloni on 23 September 2022 in a 3–0 friendly win over Honduras.
A World Cup winner in Qatar 2022, Almada joined Botafogo in the summer of 2024, winning both the Brasileirão Série A and the Copa Libertadores in the same year. Following those triumphs, he made the leap to Europe in the winter transfer window, spending the second half of the campaign on loan at Lyon.
Almada passed his medical at the Hospital Universitario Madrid Arturo Soria’s Centro de Medicina Deportiva de Alto Rendimiento Vithas - Invictum, before heading to the club's offices at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano. There he was welcomed by our CEO, Miguel Ángel Gil, with whom he signed his contract with our club.
Welcome, Thiago!
