Argentina’s World Cup winner turned down Manchester City and Sporting loan

Thiago Almada was at Vélez Sarsfield when he had the chance to sign with the ‘citizens’ and go on loan to the lions

Thiago Almada, World Cup winner with Argentina in Qatar in 2022, revealed that in 2019, when he was at Vélez Sarsfield, he refused to sign for Manchester City and move to Sporting on loan.

«There was an offer from Manchester City . Guardiola was already there. Vélez wanted me to renew. I only had six months on my contract. They sent the offer and I was going to Sporting for six months on loan. I renewed, I didn’t want to go free”, he said, in an interview with ESPN .

Thiago Almada would end up staying in Argentina until 2021, before moving to Atlanta United. In July 2024, the midfielder arrived at Botafogo , coached by Artur Jorge. From January onwards, he will wear the Lyon jersey .

“Everything was set to go to Lyon [in January],” confirmed the player. It should be noted that Botafogo and Lyon have John Textor as their owner.