One of the more interesting subplots of this transfer window has been the movement of players between Mexico's Liga MX and MLS.
ESPN.com's Tom Marshall detailed some of the possible reasons behind this phenomenon in a Thursday write-up delving into what has led to the notable uptick in players switching between the leagues. Per Marshall, there have been 16 players to move from Liga MX to MLS over the last three Liga MX transfer windows, against eight players making the move the other way over the same time frame.
This MLS offseason has seen the league land a handful of big-name Liga MX players, including Alan Pulido (Sporting Kansas City), Oswaldo Alanis (San Jose Earthquakes), Lucas Zelarayan (Columbus Crew SC), Edison Flores (D.C. United) and Lucas Cavallini (Vancouver Whitecaps). Current LA Galaxy midfielder Joe Corona, who played in Liga MX for Club Tijuana, Club America and Dorados de Sinaloa, even told Marshall he gets calls from former teammates and friends from the league "all the time" asking him to "take them to MLS."
It isn't entirely one-sided, as evidenced by players such as Luciano Acosta, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and Sebastian Saucedo all making the opposite switch and heading to Liga MX clubs in this transfer window, but there does seem to be something to the notion that MLS is becoming an increasingly appealing destination for Liga MX players. Pulido touched on some of the potential reasoning behind that when he relayed his motivation for making the move from Chivas Guadalajara to SKC.
"I didn't speak to any [Mexican] players [before making the decision]," Pulido said. "It's more through what I've heard, what players here like Jonathan [dos Santos] and [Carlos] Vela have said, [Uriel] Antuna. MLS has grown a lot. A lot of players from Liga MX are coming up here because the league is improving and then add in that the quality of life is better in all aspects, that makes players want to come more and more to this league."
The whole write-up from Marshall is worth a read for fans of either league. Check it out here.
