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Catching up with Liga MX during the FIFA break

By Thomas Buckley

Pachuca and Cruz Azul were two of the big winners during the summer transfer window. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
Pachuca and Cruz Azul were two of the big winners during the summer transfer window. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images) /
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Liga MX FIFA break
Pachuca newcomer Yairo Moreno takes the ball from former teammate Luis Montes during the Tuzos-Esmeraldas game on Matchday 1. (Photo by Mauricio Salas/Jam Media/Getty Images) /

Tuzos and León get injection of new talent

Jesús Martínez and family spent the summer wheeling-and-dealing to improve both Liga MX franchises in this organization, each of whom now has legitimate title aspirations.

Pachuca picked up last season’s second-top scorer Nico Ibáñez from Atlético de San Luis, plucked veteran attacker Avilés Hurtado from Monterrey and traded for hybrid winger/fullback Yairo Moreno from León.

These three are expected to provide offense for the Tuzos who struggled to score last season (20 goals in 17 games), but it has been slow going so far (Pachuca has a modest 9 goals in 6 games).

Coach Paolo Pezzolano will have to do without midfielder/fullback Erick Aguirre (sold to Monterrey) but the emergence of Kevin Alvarez, 22, should offset that.

Sister club León also invested in new faces, but the most important move was getting Angel Mena to extend his stay. The Ecuadorian wizard was targeted by several Liga MX teams (including América), but signed a 2-year extension to remain with the Esmeraldas.

Since signing from Cruz Azul in 2019, Mena has won a scoring title (14 goals in his first season in León) and helped lead the team to the Apertura 2020 title. He hit the 50-goal mark (and added 25 assists) before he’d played 97 games with The Green Machine.

Mena’s new teammates include Puebla studs Santi Ormeño and Omar González in addition to Elías Hernández, while management also re-acquired defender Ramiro González (a member of the title-winning squad in 2020) as defensive back-up.

The appointment of coach Ariel Holan to replace the departed Ignacio Ambriz appears to have been spot on as “La Fiera” currently sits in second place in the Liga MX table.

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