Mexican soccer went from a perceived downslope to a full-fledged tailspin during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the Mexico men’s senior national team failed to get out of the group stage for the first time since 1978.
Among the specific criticisms lobbed at El Tri for their World Cup debacle, a large part of focus remains on the country’s perceived inability to export its prospects to top European leagues. In the last decade, Liga MX clubs have sent just 37 players across the Atlantic, an average of less than four per year. Liga MX’s main rival — Major League Soccer has lapped them in this regard. In 2022 alone, the league sent 20 American players to Europe (27 overall) over the calendar year.
In MLS, the United States Soccer Federation has a willing partner to help them fulfill the goal of developing a vast player pool in Europe. According to sources consulted by ESPN, the USMNT can call on 53 players stationed across Europe, while Mexico has only 20 at current count.
Of those 53 players, USMNT’s roster in Qatar featured 17 players at European clubs. Chelsea‘s Christian Pulisic, AC Milan‘s Sergino Dest, Arsenal‘s Matt Turner and Leeds United‘s Weston McKennie (then with Juventus) headlined the USMNT squad. Of the 12 Americans who participated in all four of the team’s matches, all but one played in Europe (Nashville SC‘s Walker Zimmerman).
In contrast, former Mexico manager Gerardo Martino selected just nine players based in Europe to the last World Cup. Just one of those players, Napoli‘s Hirving Lozano, started all three El Tri matches in Qatar. Two of them, Genk‘s Gerardo Arteaga and Cremonese‘s Johan Vásquez failed to log a single minute.
Worse still, some of the team’s precious few budding stars were left off entirely, such as Feyenoord‘s Santiago Gimenez, in favor of Liga MX mainstays Henry Martin and Rogelio Funes Mori.
On his way out of the national team job, Martino asked Mexican Federation officials to focus on sending players abroad, and noting Liga MX’s bloated internal market as a roadblock.
“[Mexican] players don’t go abroad because teams won’t let them, because the fees they ask for them are exorbitant. How is a player can be worth 10 million dollars [within Liga MX] but that player doesn’t have a market in Europe?” said Martino last September.
After the World Cup, Greek giants Panathinaikos targeted Cruz Azul winger Uriel Antuna. The European side reportedly offered €3.5 million ($3.7 million) — Cruz Azul asked for more than twice that amount. Ultimately, Antuna stayed put.
“Many times for a Mexican player, we know they want to make the jump to Europe because if you play there, it’s a great accomplishment and your game grows,” said former USMNT player Joe Corona, who has played in Europe, Liga MX, and MLS. “As a player, your level goes up and you’re able to give more to your national team.”
Corona, who now plays for USL side San Diego Loyal, went on loan to Sweden’s GIF Sundsvall in 2022 via the Houston Dynamo. In addition to MLS and Liga MX, as well as 23 caps with the U.S. national team, Corona played college soccer at San Diego State. The approach to transferring Liga MX players has differed significantly in MLS.
In the last two years, for instance, Philadelphia Union has transferred three American players to Europe — none for more than $9 million. The club instead relied on a sell-on clause to increase their winnings later on. This paid off when Brenden Aaronson, transferred by the Union to FC Salzburg in 2020, went to Leeds United last season for nearly three times his initial fee — allowing Philadelphia to pocket an extra $5 million.
And interest in signing players from USL and the U.S. college ranks has also increased recently. Jonathan Gomez, who remains eligible for the USMNT and Mexico, signed from USL side Louisville to Spain’s Real Sociedad B in 2021. Last December, Leicester City signed Ghanaian forward Nathan Opoku straight out of Syracuse University in 2022.
“MLS has grown so much and they’re on Europe’s radar,” Corona said. “There’s great marketing behind the league and the level of play has grown so that more European countries are looking towards the United States.”
In his time with the USMNT, Corona recalls former national team boss Jurgen Klinsmann’s insistence that players make the leap from Liga MX and MLS to top-tier European clubs in order to bolster the country’s overall growth.
“When I was with Xolos [in Liga MX], Klinsmann would constantly tell me to go to Europe if I had the chance, he wanted every one of us in the player pool to have that opportunity,” Corona said.
Despite not being the USMNT coach since 2015, Klinsmann’s vision has crystallized of late. The onus now, as opposed to even a decade ago under Klinsmann, is for American players to play for top clubs in Europe, not just make the leap abroad.
“I don’t understand why [Liga MX teams] don’t make it easy on Mexican players to go abroad,” Corona said. “Based on what I’ve seen, it’s rumored that teams ask for more money and that affects the market. Look at how much money is spent in bringing a Mexican player to Europe and how much is spent from MLS to Europe.”
The success of MLS transfer policies has not gone unnoticed by Mexican officials. After the World Cup, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola presented a multifacted plan aimed at sending more players to Europe, including affiliations with European clubs to help move domestic talents at a younger age.
And when Diego Cocca was confirmed last week as Mexico’s new manager, he stated that: “I believe a lot in Mexican soccer players and their talent. But talent is not enough, you have to give them a whole lot of tools so they can take off, and that is my goal, I want to make them take off.”
