Miguel Almiron

Watch Miguel Almiron score his first career hat trick for Atlanta United

Published May. 20, 2017 10:00 p.m. ET

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Caitlin Murray

When Atlanta United joined MLS this season, they wanted to make a bold entrance with some big, pricey names. One of their biggest signings was Miguel Almiron, who reportedly cost Atlanta $8.5 million and had been drawing interest from Arsenal. He was just 22 years old, but Atlanta were making a big bet on the Lanus midfielder.

So far, it seems to be paying off, with Almiron earning his first career hat trick Saturday night in Atlanta's demolition of the Houston Dynamo. Check out his splendid first pair of goals as Atlanta won, 4-1:

https://twitter.com/MLS/status/866088171628486657

https://twitter.com/MLS/status/866091110367543297

That's sensational stuff from Almiron, who took more shots than anyone on the pitch and was unsurprisingly the match's most fouled player, too.

He very nearly had a lovely third goal to complete an emphatic hat trick, but his shot went wide -- he'd later complete his hat trick on a penalty kick instead:

With the hat trick, Almiron now has five goals and four assists in 11 matches this season. Atlanta may have hit a rough patch over the previous few weeks as could be expected from an expansion team, but they look well back on track thanks to their Paraguayan playmaker.

Almiron isn't a typical No. 10 -- he tends to cover a ton of ground and put pressure on back lines, and he looks just as at home along the flanks as anywhere else on the field. But he's shown he can be incredibly effective, particularly when Atlanta plays at the breakneck pace the team prefers. There are few players in MLS deadlier in transition than Almiron, and he proved that point on Saturday.

To borrow a joke from some MLS fans, maybe he should be known by Miguel Goalmiron. Or Migoal Almiron. No, it's definitely gotta be Migoal Goalmiron.

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Miguel Almiron

Atlanta

MLS