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In just his second month in Liga MX, James Rodríguez will match the number of games he played with Rayo Vallecano, the La Liga club he signed for last summer after being named the best player at the 2024 Copa América.
Maybe he just needed to be back in the Americas.
Rodríguez has been fantastic since joining Club León, who won the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup but failed to even make the playoffs in the Apertura – the tournament that runs from July to December in Mexico’s short-season format. He has a goal, a pair of assists and also has won a pair of penalty kicks, all while creating nearly two chances a game for his teammates.
He arrived as the team’s star addition in January, with management also convincing midfielder Andrés Guardado, the most capped Mexico player of all time, to reverse his decision to retire. The club also brought in players from markets Liga MX clubs traditionally scour: Argentina, MLS and Mexico itself.
This week, Rodríguez got company from La Liga, as his former Real Madrid teammate Sergio Ramos was unveiled as Monterrey’s newest defender. The 38-year-old hasn’t played a professional match since the 2023-24 season with Sevilla but arrives eager to make a difference in a country he feels is the right place to see out his career.
“It gives me the perfect balance I was looking for, when it comes to family, to country. I know Monterrey a bit but know Mexico really well thanks to some good friends I’ve visited in the last 15 years,” Ramos told TUDN. “Why [Monterrey]? It’s an ambitious team that wants to get better, to grow, to win titles. I think it’s a perfect mix of philosophy and mentality when it comes to the club, and for me, the experience and bringing what I’ve brought to teams in the last 20 years.”
This is not the first time foreign stars have attempted to close out their careers with success in Mexico – though most ended up being forgettable cameos.
Everyone, especially crosstown rival Monterrey, has tried to find a foreign player who could match the influence André-Pierre Gignac has had with Tigres in the last decade. Since arriving in the summer of 2015, the former France international has won the league five times, helped the team to their first-ever Concacaf Champions Cup and will leave Mexico not only as Tigres’ top scorer all-time but one of the top 10 scorers in Liga MX history.
Monterrey have, for years, looked to find a Gignac of their own. The club brought in the Dutch forward Vincent Janssen, lured several Mexican players back from Europe and have now turned their attention to Spain as Ramos joins countrymen Sergio Canales and Óliver Torres in northern Mexico.
Gignac is still a key player for Tigres, but he’ll celebrate his 40th birthday this year. As such, Tigres are looking to replace him – and the title of ‘Best Foreign Player in Liga MX’ is up for grabs.
The 38-year-old Ramos is an unlikely candidate to hold the title for long, and Rodríguez’s inconsistency at club level means that even if the 33-year-old stays in León it’s hard to see him putting together another five years of great campaigns.
León aren’t asking for that, though. At least, not yet. Right now, the club are focused on getting back to the Liga MX postseason and then looking to the summer when they’ll join Monterrey and brother club Pachuca as Mexico’s entrants in the Club World Cup.
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While Fifa’s expanded tournament struggled to find a television rights deal and this month lowered ticket prices for many matches, the participating clubs are betting big on the competition, which will be hosted in the US. Beyond competing with some of the world’s best clubs, teams are looking to grow their international brands – and to convince fans in the US it’s worth paying the price of entry, even when they often play friendly matches or Leagues Cup games in the same markets.
The allure of the Club World Cup and trying to fly the flag for the club, for Mexico and for the Concacaf region, is convincing club owners in Liga MX to invest.
The other critical factor driving teams to spend money on big names is far less global. Club América have won back-to-back-to-back Liga MX titles, becoming the first team in the short tournament era to threepeat. Historically Mexico’s most successful teams, and one of the most popular clubs in the region, Las Aguilas are always a team to beat. The recent titles have only made the target even larger as Mexico’s traditional powers and ‘new money’ teams line up to try to knock them from their perch.
Another wealthy club, and one not immune from making a splashy signing that draws international headlines, the current América squad relies more on players with proven success in Liga MX than stars from abroad.
Perhaps that approach will win out once again in the spring, but Club World Cup glory would eclipse even the bragging rights América could earn by winning a fourth straight Liga MX title, especially if it’s accompanied by praise from media and fans from around the world.
With Rodríguez’s early success and the media boom after Ramos’ arrival, finding a non-Mexican player with name recognition who can still offer something on the field is a play more clubs will consider.
