Liga MX: Gignac is here to stay
ESPN have reported this week that AS Monaco had a bid rejected for Gignac in a move which would have seen the Frenchman’s return to the country of his birth and to UEFA Champions League football. Instead, he’s decided to stay in Monterrey with Tigres in the hopes of negotiating a new deal.
With so many young Mexicans fighting for the chance to earn a contract in one of Europe’s top leagues, this may seem like an odd decision at first. To better understand Gignac’s reluctance to return home, I’ve looked back at the story since his arrival in Liga MX.
Turn back the clock, it’s June 2015 and a 29-year-old André-Pierre Gignac has run out his contract with Bielsa’s Marseille after spending five years with the club. Having scored 21 goals as Ligue 1’s second highest goal scorer, he was being courted by the likes of Inter Milan, Olympique Lyon and a host of Premier League clubs.
Then Tigres UANL’s name was thrown in to the mix and suddenly, it was plastered all over transfer gossip pages across Europe. What happened next shocked soccer fans the world over, leading to serious questions in Milan, Lyon and London; just who were Tigres and how had they pulled this off?
The answer was simple, Tigres were an incredibly ambitious club vying to be the first Mexican team to win South America’s premier competition, the Copa Libertadores. In doing so, they would go a step further than beaten finalists Cruz Azul in 2001 and Chivas in 2010. Gignac shared the same ambitious goals and got on board with the project.
His arrival coincided with Tigres’ semi-final against Brazilians Internacional with The Guardian reporting that he’d arrived with high expectations:
"“I’m very happy, I’ve come to win the league and the Libertadores… we’re going to do big things”"
As we now know, Gignac and Tigres didn’t win the Copa Libertadores that year and Mexican clubs now no longer compete for the competition. Since his arrival, domestic goals have certainly been achieved but continental success has eluded Tigres thus far. This, however, hasn’t stopped Gignac from sticking around.
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Fully integrating into Mexican culture
What may have started out as a move with sporting objectives has blossomed in to a full-blown love affair for Tigres and for Mexico itself. He has even expressed his desire to become a full Mexican citizen
"“I hope that within a year I can obtain Mexican citizenship as well. It would make me proud because I feel right at home here. I feel good here and so does my family… I hope to have many more years in Monterrey and in Mexico as well.”“I hope to open doors for others from France who want to learn about Mexican football, about the country, its culture, it’s language and it is truly because I have fallen in love with Mexico.”"
When we consider the emotion of this interview, the fact that his son was born here and that several members of his family now speak Spanish and have fully integrated with the culture, is his decision really that surprising? When the rumors were first mooted, isn’t this the outcome we all expected (and wanted)?
Whether you’re a fan of Tigres, of Monterrey or of America, it’s hard to argue that a player of Gignac’s calibre is great for the league and that we all hope his current contract negotiations with Tigres are resolved soon.
For now at least, to borrow Gerard Pique’s now infamous words in the Neymar transfer saga, ‘Se queda’… He’s staying.