The relationship between Mexico and Argentina is not a great one after the World Cup, and everything that took place after the match. Argentinian clubs are not trying to make things one bit easier as once again a lack of payment from an Argentine Club to a Liga MX side has created a court dispute. Issues over the lack of payment for players by Argentinian sides to Liga MX clubs has already resulted in a ban by Liga MX to clubs River Plate and Boca Juniors. Both of whom have had grievances with Cruz Azul in the past.
This time around it’s Club Atlético Independiente who have failed to pay their debts to Club America. The team signed Cecilio Dominguez from the Coapa squad back in 2019 for a reported transfer fee of 5.7 million dollars. That fee though was never paid, at least in full prompting Club America to take the issue up with FIFA. Independiente had until today to pay their debts or face 3 consecutive signing windows without the possibility of incorporating new players into their squad. What the argentine club decided to do was move quickly to sign 4 players for the upcoming season. Including former Cruz Azul striker Martin Cauteruccio, and not pay Club America a dime!
When Will Liga MX Clubs Learn The Lesson?
As we mentioned this is not the first time that Liga MX teams have had trouble getting paid by Argentinian squads. In the current climate where relations were tense between Mexico and Argentina it makes things worse. With the economic recession that has plagued Argentina in the last few months there was just no way that Club America was going to get paid. However, there were reportedly not many good will attempts to sit down and negotiate.
The economic reality of football in the Americas dictates that Argentinian teams are just not able to pay the salaries that are paid in Liga MX, MLS or Brazil. However, teams in Argentina have still been willing to make purchases that they know they won’t be able to pay in the long run. It just doesn’t make a ton of sense financially for Liga MX to sell any of their players back to Argentina. We have a theory though on why these types of payment issues seem to keep happening. It comes down to players who ultimately are busts in Liga MX.
The Problem Is The Resale Value of Liga MX Busts
Let’s get one thing straight, the players that make it big in Liga MX usually are not the problem. Sure, there’s the case of Pol Fernandez, and Teo Guitierrez both with Cruz Azul. Where they wanted to go play in Argentina even if that meant sacrificing some money in the process. For the most part though, the players that are going from Liga MX to the Argentinian league are those who either couldn’t make it in Liga MX or are old and are headed back home. In the case of Cecilio Dominguez he was one of those players that was caught in the middle. That’s why Club America thought, maybe rightfully so, that he had some resale value.
Liga MX clubs are much better suited selling those types of players to the MLS than back to Argentina. At this point in time clubs in South America in general are not financially sound enough to be paying even 5 million dollar transfer fees. Something that’s actually not that big of a deal for Brasileirao teams or MLS squads. The issue is that teams want to get rid of Liga MX busts without taking a major loss, and that’s almost impossible because in signing him to Liga MX you give that player a value that they wouldn’t command in the South American market other than in Brazil!
