By IVES GALARCEP
The Liga MX Draft is one of the wilder events in club soccer. It isn’t quite a draft like American fans know drafts to be. What it amounts to is a free-for-all event that allows teams to wheel and deal with other teams in Liga MX.
Wednesday marked the latest installment of the Liga MX Draft, and it was a busy one for American players, with three of them signing deals with new teams and two others heavily linked to moves to Mexican clubs.
Edgar Castillo completed a transfer to Monterrey, where he reunites with former Club Tijuana head coach Antonio Mohamed. Castillo’s departure left a void at left back for Atlas, which filled that void by acquiring U.S. Men’s National Team defender Greg Garza on a one-year loan from Club Tijuana.
Jonathan Bornstein signed with a new team, but one he is very familiar with. After spending a season on loan with Queretaro, Bornstein completed a permanent move to the club after UANL Tigres sold his rights to the Liga MX finalists.
Reports out of Mexico also linked U.S. midfielder Joe Corona to a move away from Club Tijuana, with Veracruz being widely reported as his destination. (UPDATE: Veracruz confirmed the transfer early Thursday morning). Monterrey had also been linked to a move for potential move for Corona, which would reunite Corona with Mohamed, who helped lead Corona and Club Tijuana to a Liga MX title in 2012.
Another American linked to a move to Liga MX was USMNT winger and NASL star Miguel Ibarra. The Minnesota United standout was linked to a transfer to Club Leon, with sources telling SBI that no move has been completed yet.
What do you think of these developments? See these moves being good ones for the three aforementioned Americans? Think Corona is better off reuniting with Mohamed? Can you see Ibarra doing well in Liga MX?
Share your thoughts below.
Every time I hear the name Jonathan Bornstein it make me cringe. Is it time for a USMNT call up?
Great for the Americans and hopefully it’ll result in more play time, more money, etc.
For me at least, I don’t care because only Garza and Arriola are the only players I like to see play for the national team. We have better players in their position overseas where the talent is better for most of the guys.
More interested in Bobby Wood going to a team NOT playing in the German third division
I read a report before the recent friendlies that 1860 Munich wanted to buy him back after a strong end to the season with Aue.
I think after his performances with the NATS a lot of yo-yo clubs between the 1st & 2nd Bundesligas will be taking a really good look
Good moves all around. They all leave to promising situations with talented teams, with Veracruz being on the fringe there.
As one person mentioned above, this opens up things a lot for the younger players already at Tijuana. I expect Alejandro Guido, Paul Arriola & Esteban Rodriguez will be given more first team opportunities this year
Hope Ibarra rumor is true! Call-ups to the Nats would seem less puzzling!
Here’s to hoping, seems strange for Club León to tweet to him if they didn’t have him, but there have been stranger things
Castillo leaves TJ and opened the door for Garza, now Garza opens it for Requejo. Good moves all around.
A draft, HAHAHA, LOL, what a Mickey Mouse league!
Quit whining about soccer in Mexico.
I know you are being facetious, but don’t let the name fool you. It is not a draft it is a free agency period.
one would assume ‘Quit Whining’ would read the first few comments, thus explaining the “draft” and its difference from the MLS draft… thats what we get for assuming, i guess…
Surprised by the garza move…
As a Xolos season ticket holder, I’m disappointed but not surprised. Their historical collapse late last season was due in large part to their terrible defense. They were never good on defense even when they were in first for most of the season, but it was really bad at the end. Changes to the back line were inevitable, and Garza’s attack-first, defend-second style of play probably led to his transfer/loan. Although I think he is capable of playing good defense, that must of have been what the coach asked him to do.
Bornstein??? B-O-R-N-S-T-E-I-N!!! (shakes fist in the air)
Still our third best option at LB if you ask me… People remember the bad but never remember nights where he basically shut down Lionel Messi in the Copa America 2007… the US lost on the night for the first 60 mins he was a complete nuisance to the future best player in the world..
He’s not better than Greg Garza, hell even with the inconsistency of recent Shea has played better in the games that you can compare their play because Shea hasn’t competed in qualifiers or Gold Cup…. Fabian is FOR SURE a better Left back and even Chandler is slightly better at Left than Bornstein…JB’s problem was horrible positioning and well he didn’t play defense very smart. Gio Dos Santos made him look like a traffic cone and that guy is Extremely one footed…yet Bornstein would keep giving him the outside lane where he could use his comfy left foot… I don’t know about 3rd….maybe 4th
And yet in Honduras the man is a god…
Free agency, what a nice thing to have, right garber.
They call it a draft in Mexico, but its a 3 day agency window, or 2 should I say.
If mls had a higher salary cap and a free agency system, players like edgar castilo, corona, Gomez, garza would be in mls.
Its just sad, how those players want to be here but its impossible due the money they get in Mexico and freedom to move around in the free agency system.
As a matter of fact, ligamx can hand pick players from and do, from Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and even usa now.
If garber wants mls to be a biggerr league by 2022, then he must raise salary cap and have a better free agency. Its time garber, its time.
You are right, but it’s not Garber’s decision. It is up to the ownership groups. They decide, Barber executes. One would hope the league acts on this soon as the influx of revenues from the new TV deal and from franchise fees come in.
I agree. Many of the Americans you list would be solid MLS players, not at the level of the DPs though. So playing in a really strong league like Liga MX for way more money (and fame) makes sense for them.
I think Corona played more when Mohamed was coach, so it looks to me like a good move that both he and Castillo will be rejoined with their former coach.Also, TJ had a disappointing end to the season; from the several games I saw, their defense was suspect. Monterrey is traditionally a pretty strong club, so it looks like a step up for Corona. Don’t know enough about the league to have any judgment about Garza going from TJ to Atlas.
Will this open up playing time at Club TH for any Americans?
Is Arriola still there?
It could and yes he is.
Arriola and Guido are two names I would watch this upcoming season to make a step up in playing time with the first team.
Not bad. Monterrey is a beautiful and great city to live in.
I go to most of the Xolos games, and last season Corona was more of a second choice playing when someone was hurt or suspended (like Arango after his biting incident). He was usually on the bench but did come on as a substitute a lot.
Arriola is having a good U-20 WC, but I’m not sure if that means first team minutes with TJ. I sure hope so, but I think if he can just be on the bench as a sub here and there, that’s the most he’ll get next season as he continues his development.
The Xolos run a massive campaign to make this a cross border team, and about 1/3 of the fans for any game come from the US (like me). So it makes sense that they would have some American players. We always rooted for Garza and Corona. Joe also went to high school in San Diego County, which makes his transfer even more disappointing as he’s a local kid. But I wish the best for him if this means more playing time.
Garza was a fixture at LB last year for the Xolos, and he’s really exciting to watch as he’s so attack minded. But lack of defense was a huge problem for TJ especially after they stopped scoring so much, and Garza usually was thinking attack first defense second. With the new coach, he may have wanted a more defensive minded LB.
Thanks for the solid update, Pablo!
drafts in soccer are stupid.
That’s why it’s called football.
But, wait…
No legitimate soccer league could have anything like a draft!
Completely different
+1 it is different and i applaud you for pointing it out without having to rip into someone
haha
Neal,
It isn’t a draft in the way you think about it. It is more like free agent season. Very different.
it’s not a “Draft” like the MLS draft, it’s more like the transfer window for European leagues except it’s only for player transfers within Liga MX.