By Gerardo Romero
01 Apr 2024, 10:12 AM EDT
This weekend, Mexican striker Alexis Vega demonstrated once again how decisive he can be for any team by scoring the winning goal for the Diablos Rojos del Toluca 3-2 against the Tuzos del Pachuca in the duel corresponding to the Day 13 of the Clausura 2024 tournament of the Liga MX to be able to add three fundamental points in the competition that allows them to stay in the fight for one of the direct places for the Liguilla of the Aztec championship and maintain firm their objectives of being champions.
After the match, the technical director of the Red Devils of Toluca, Renato Paiva, praised the work done by the striker and confessed to the media that he tried to sign him to European football when he was in charge of SL Benfica of the Primeira Liga. Portugal with the aim of boosting its offensive to keep the Portuguese team as one of the strongest in its country and one of the most competitive in the old continent in the various competitions in which they participate.
These statements were made at the Hidalgo Stadium, where the Portuguese coach also explained that Alexis Vega aroused the interest of FC Porto, so he had great chances of reaching Europe; Despite this, the agreement with these clubs was never made due to the high cost of his market value at the time of wanting to sign him because at that time he was already one of the great figures of the Águilas del Club América.
“Alexis… I was the first to say that I wanted Alexis, I wanted him for Benfica. Serious guy who works, he has had mistakes and we are not going to do makeup. With us he is focused, he has a lot of quality. He talks a lot, but he talks on the field. He is a player who is going to grow like many,” said Renato Paiva in his statements to the media.
“(He didn’t come to Benfica because) he was very expensive at that time and he earned a lot of money, they asked for a lot of money. Not only Benfica (wanted it), Porto also played it. He is a young man, but with us he is very focused (…). He has a lot of quality, he has to worry about training and playing, and he supports anyone who has life, people ‘like we all have,’” he added.
Paiva’s words reopen the extensive debate that has been generated in recent years about the high costs that some clubs within the MX League have when selling their players, which has ended up affecting the export of Mexican talent to the old continent so that can develop new skills in these competencies.
Let us remember that this low presence of Mexican soccer players in Europe has also been linked to the sporting decline that has been registered within the Mexican team compared to the growth that the United States team has registered in Concacaf competitions.
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