You have all seen the clip by now of a dishevelled and hoarse Jack Grealish looking down the barrel of the camera on Bernando Silva's iPhone. Man City's record signing just about gets his words out as he takes team-mate Riyad Mahrez's performance apart.
"Riyad! Take him off the pitch as soon as possible," Grealish recalled of Mahrez's display in the title decider against Aston Villa back in May. "He played like Al... Almiron."
Miguel Almiron's camp were, obviously, well-aware of the footage from City's title celebrations, but ChronicleLive understands those closest to the Paraguay international do not feel Grealish's words have necessarily given him any extra motivation because this mentality monster is already 'very competitive' and 'always aspires to more'. Whether Grealish is at the back of Almiron's mind or not, the Man City star's jibe has certainly not had a negative impact. Quite the opposite, in fact.
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'Play like Almiron' has come to mean something very different and the effective forward has already scored six goals this season, including a superb individual goal against Spurs on Sunday. To put that return into perspective, it took Almiron 69 appearances over the course of three campaigns to score his previous six top-flight goals.
Having only hit double figures once in his career, at Atlanta United, Newcastle's top scorer is already more than halfway there in October. No one is prouder about that than Almiron's family over 6,000 miles away in Asuncion as uncle Diego explained from the Paraguayan capital.
"Just speaking to Miguel, he told me how well this moment is going and how happy he is," Diego revealed to ChronicleLive. "We never doubted that this would happen because we know him and we know that he never gives up so the family is very happy and proud of our Miggy. Hopefully he can continue to bring joy to the Newcastle fans who always supported him."
As Diego alluded to, Almiron was already a popular figure with supporters for his selfless running, hunger and incredible work rate, but the 28-year-old has added the goals to take his game to the next level in the Premier League. The sorts of goals that convinced Newcastle to break their transfer record to sign the former Atlanta star in the first place in 2019.
So what has changed? Well, Almiron has certainly been among the main beneficiaries from Newcastle's switch to a front foot approach under Eddie Howe this season. Rather than chasing back, Almiron has been facing the opposition goal and pressing from the front to great effect as he did in the build-up to his goals against both Brentford and Spurs.
Almiron has also not only had the backing of his manager, but the level of detail he needs, too. Partnerships are worked on in training and as natural as Almiron's understanding with Bruno Guimaraes looks, moves are rehearsed at Benton. It is certainly not a coincidence that Bruno has teed up nearly half of Almiron's goals under Howe. If teed up is the right word given the quality of the finishes.
Additionally, rather than being shifted around like he was under Steve Bruce, when Almiron featured as a striker, winger, number 10 and even a central midfielder, the 28-year-old has had the chance to make the right wing position his own under Howe with a regular run of starts. Almiron, in short, knows his job and the coaching staff have certainly noticed how the 'technical delivery' of what the Paraguayan has been asked to do has gone up a level.
Almiron has, clearly, grown in confidence with each game and each goal this season. Whereas Almiron once did not shoot enough or snatched at efforts, the confident forward is now shooting on sight.
As impressive as Almiron's goals were against Fulham, Everton and Spurs, the smiling assassin has also shown newfound poaching instincts, whether it was bundling the ball home against Man City; getting on the end of Joe Willock's cross to score his second from close range at Fulham; or coolly rounding David Raya to score against Brentford.
At this rate, Almiron is one of the first names on the team sheet. Howe had been keen on bringing in another wide man last summer, and Newcastle probably will still sign one in 2023, but this will be a player who competes with Almiron rather than replaces him. You could say to play like him. It is no longer an insult.
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