The difficult case of Diego Lainez
And how his case will make us appreciate more Giovani dos Santos and Carlos Vela
The singular cases of Mexican football are sometimes hard to explain and understand.
When Diego Lainez made his debut in León, the same place Cuauhtémoc Blanco made his debut with Club América, there was a promise that the youngster from Tabasco was destined for greatness.
That because we knew our past and what had gone wrong, his case would be different and would have a better outcome.
The fact that it was Ricardo Antonio La Volpe, the same La Volpe that in 2006 gave Andrés Guardado his first World Cup start in the Round of Sixteen match against Argentina, invited to think that before us we had a player that was going to have an equal or better trajectory than El Principito, who has played in Europe nonstop since 2007.
In México, there’s a clear desperation to have something to brag about in the beautiful game, enticing us to have illusory thoughts that such and such player will get us to the promised land.
We’ve seen it with Giovani dos Santos, Carlos Vela, César Villaluz, La Momia Gómez and recently with Marcelo Flores.
In a football world, in which there’s been more lows than highs in the new century, the youngster that stands out will provoke a rush of enthusiasm that’s incomparable to many things that go on in the Mexican game.
Because let’s be honest, the stuff going on with the FMF right now doesn’t provoke a single ounce of excitement.
At 22-years-old, Lainez needs to admit that he hasn’t lived up to the expectations. His career has deflated so quickly that the prospect of returning to Liga MX was the best in order to revitalize his career, which as I’m writing these lines, is a big question mark.
What made Lainez such an intriguing prospect is his gambeta. His ability to take on his marker and escape away was something that stood out from the first moment he debuted. It was that electricity that he provided in El Tri’s youth teams and then América’s first-team that made Real Betis pursue him.
The element that Guardado was already part of Betis’ squad made it so much more attractive to head to Sevilla. It can only be helpful to have a compatriot in the same club to ease the transition from Liga MX to La Liga.
Under Quique Setién, he received immediate minutes, but what stood out from those first games was that he was still raw. He was intermittent with his decision making. He made the move that awe the crowd, but then there was no end product.
And that same dilemma has gone on to haunt him with other subsequent coaches until highly-decorated Chilean manager, Manuel Pellegrini, said to Betis’ Sporting Director that Lainez had no room in his squad.
Betis needs cash as we speak, and they’re not in a position to disregard the offer that Tigres put on the table.
This is where the cases of Giovani dos Santos and Carlos Vela come to mind, and why I make note of why Lainez’s situation will make us appreciate their Mexico careers more.
The fact that Giovani and Vela belonged to Premier League clubs like Tottenham and Arsenal, respectively, allowed their careers in Europe to stay afloat.
Before Giovani signed with Mallorca and then Villarreal, he went on-loan to the following clubs: Ipswich Town, Galatasaray and Racing de Santander.
Vela had even more loan spells: Celta, Salamanca, Osasuna, West Brom and Real Sociedad.
It shouldn’t go unnoticed that both Giovani and Vela were benefited by the Premier League’s healthy financial state compared to the current financial state La Liga is experiencing. Arsenal and Tottenham were never in a rush to sell Giovani and Vela as Betis seems to be with Lainez.
It would be highly surprising if Giovani and Vela didn’t receive serious approaches from Liga MX sides as they were jumping loan spell after loan spell in Europe. I wonder if they were ever close on signing with a Liga MX side, or if they were solely focused on staying in Europe. If they always did the latter, let’s commend them for remaining in Europe and give a series of notable performances for El Tri.
Vela played an important role in the Juan Carlos Osorio era, while Giovani played an important role in the 2012 gold medal team and scored vital goals in the procesos that led to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. They left their mark.
Lainez’s return to Liga MX will test his mentality. Is there room to believe that he will eventually receive another shot in Europe? That will be solely up to him. He needs some sort of production that makes him into a player worth betting on. Is Tigres the best possible destination? Hard to tell because he will start his time in México on the bench, and he will need to make serious strides in order to convince Diego Cocca that he deserves a starting role.
His career isn’t over. His career is in reboot. Better late than never.
Make sure to watch the recent Resortera Wave episode ⬇️📺
Un abrazo para todas/os.
His career is definitely now in a reboot. But with 3 years to the next World Cup (and a home field World Cup at that) it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Not only did Vega stay in ligamx, but Lainez returning puts pressure on the remaining wingers abroad. Im not even sure if Corona will be Corona by the time we are heading to the big dance in 2026. Mexico really is in a dark spot.