The Diego Lainez transfer is complete. And he’s headed to Spain.
The exciting 18-year-old winger made the move from Club América to Real Betis on Thursday. The LaLiga club will pay América a reported $16 million for Lainez’s services.
It’s no secret that 18-year-old Mexican phenom Diego Lainez has played his last match for Club América (going out with a bang as the Apertura 2018 champion). With two El Tri appearances to his name, Lainez only further boosted his market value with two goals during América’s semifinal victory over Pumas, and it looks as though Dutch giants Ajax are about to meet the Mexican club’s valuation of the precocious winger.
It is settled: Club América is the best team in all Liga MX history. Beating Cruz Azul in a very level final on Sunday, Las Águilas claimed their 13th Liga MX title.
In doing so, Miguel Herrera's side surpassed Chivas Guadalajara, which has won the championship 12 times.
The Cruz Azul curse continues. After being repelled by a combination of Club América goalkeeper Agustín Marchesín and the crossbar in the first leg, a poor piece of attempting to play out the back ultimately doomed Cruz Azul in the second — the ever impressive Edson Álvarez punished the slack play with a curling effort from the top of the box, and then the El Tri star registered a second at the death to confirm América’s 13th title.
Cruz Azul failed to land a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.
Nursing a 1-0 lead in the Liga MX final, Club América goalkeeper Agustín Marchesín knew what he had to do. After a sensational run by 20-year-old Cruz Azul midfielder Roberto Alvarado, the ball ended at the feet of Édgar Méndez.
Marchesín rushed out and took the ball off the feet of Méndez before he could get a shot off and potentially equalize in the 59th minute, and then the 30-year-old Argentine goalkeeper let Méndez have an earful. Referee Cesar Ramos rushed forward to separate the two, but in doing so, he gently touched the arm of Marchesín.
It's going to happen: A Club América vs. Cruz Azul Liga MX final will kiss 2018 goodbye. La Máquina beat Monterrey, and Las Águilas destroyed Pumas in the semifinals last weekend, thus securing the high-voltage final most soccer enthusiasts in Mexico were looking forward to.
After missing four matches due to an ankle injury caused by teammate Bruno Valdez during training, 18-year-old Club America phenom Diego Lainez made his full return on Saturday by starting his first Liga MX match since Aug. 23. Matt Miazga’s BFF certainly looked back to his best in America’s 3-0 win over Tijuana, going the full 90 minutes and scoring a golazo in the 59th minute.
After finishing Apertura Copa MX group play with a record of three wins, one draw and a +8 goal difference, Club América grabbed the No. 1 seed in the knockout bracket, setting up a clash with No. 16 seed FC Juárez, which advanced to the knockout stage by the skin of its teeth as the seventh-best second-place finisher.
Here we have Club America No. 1 Agustin Marchesin facing an eerily similar situation to the one confronted by Liverpool’s Alisson against Leicester City back on Sept. 1. Alisson, of course, infamously gave the ball away while performing your grandmother’s wedding dance steps, allowing Rachid Ghezzal to pull one back.
No club divides opinion in Mexico quite like Club America, but yesterday, the entire country had to be excited about the performance of 18-year-old phenom Diego Lainez.
Since making his club debut as a 16-year-old, Lainez has been touted as one of Mexico’s top prospects. However, the native of Villahermosa had yet to make much of an impact in his brief Liga MX career with America manager Miguel Herrera deploying the winger cautiously.