THE EUROPEAN NIGHTMARE: JJ AND LAINEZ’S CAUTIONARY TALE
We hear it time and time again from young and some seasoned players as well, “I want to play in Europe. Not too long ago, Charly Rodriguez based his decision to leave Monterrey for Cruz Azul on the fact that an exit to Europe would be easier at La Maquina. With so many young talents looking to practice their trait in the Old Country, they should look at a few of their countrymen’s current situation as a warning.
Not long ago, JJ Macias and Diego Lainez were riding high as the golden boys of Mexican soccer. However, an obsession with getting to Europe and greed have both of them living European nightmares rather than reaching their dreams.
JJ had come off the best season of his career at Leon when he returned to El Rebano. Expectations were high that he would become the new face of the club and help Chivas regain their spot atop Liga MX. Nonetheless, that never happened. Macias saw Chivas as an obstacle rather than a stepping stone to reach his goals. As such, he became the target of the fans’ abuse and never really regained his goalscoring form. Even with that, JJ would not be denied, and in June 2021, his dream move was announced, JJ would play in La Liga, on loan at Getafe.
Since his move, Macias has played a grand total of 7 games, starting 2 and being subbed in five times. He has registered 0 goals and 0 assists while racking up only 197 minutes on the pitch. Those minutes are highlighted by his 1 minute of game time against Real Sociedad, and 3 minutes against Sevilla. Macias is now relegated to see his opportunity to make his first World Cup dwindle as he is unlikely to be called up by Tata. His last National team call up being October 1st, 2020
Diego Lainez is another instance where greed and the urge to play in a “Top” League turned a dream into a nightmare. Lainez was in the crosshairs of the Dutch Giants Ajax and an offer of $11-13 million was made and denied by Lainez and America. Instead, they took the more financially lucrative $15.4 million offer from Real Betis. Since then, Lainez has amassed 1460 minutes in two seasons, tallying just 2 goals and 4 assists in that time. Lainez has started just 11 games in that time. Real Betis has had three managers in the time Diego has been at the club and none of them have given El Effecto Lainez any meaningful minutes.
It’s hard to tell what the outcome would have been if he had signed with Ajax instead, but with Ajax’s track record of developing youth and the recent success of Edson Alvarez in the Netherland squad, it’s easy to assume Lainez would be further along in his development. Lainez has also seen his transfer market value drop from $15.4 million to about $5.50 million.
Fortunately, these two nightmares may still be salvageable. JJ’s loan ends in the summer of 2022, and Lainez may be on the move in that same window. Mexican players should look to mimic their neighbors to the north and a few of their own like Lozano and Alvarez to elect better paths to get to their European Dreams.
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El Tri Online was founded in December 2017 to serve English-speaking fans of Mexican Soccer. Our mission is to create compelling Mexican soccer content and share it via our website, streaming apps, social media, and any other medium for English-dominant Mexican-American fans of the Mexican National Team, Liga MX, and their players.
