It’s looking like Angel Zaldivar’s time at Chivas is coming to an end once again. With the way that Zaldivar’s career has gone we can’t rule out an eventual return to the club, but that’s a topic for another day. The departure of Zaldivar who is looking like he’ll play his club football in San Luis from now on really speaks well of Fernando Hierro’s tenure at Chivas. Why do we say that? Well, not pile on Zaldivar, but he’s got a ton of chances to prove that he deserves to be Chivas’ starting number 9. Only to prove that he’s a middle tier player at best. That’s really being generous.
He’s scored 41 goals in his Chivas career playing in 221 games. During his loan spells at Puebla and Monterrey his goal average was similarly underwhelming as well. Scoring 2 goals in 9 games with Puebla, and 3 in 24 appearances with Rayados. The reason why we feel it’s a good idea to ship him off to San Luis is because it at least gives the fans the impression that Hierro is seeing the same thing that they are seeing. One of the biggest complaints that fan bases have revolves around their teams holding on to middle of the pack or even below average players for far too long. Having said this Zaldivar is contracted to Chivas until 2024, so don’t think they’re rid of him for good.
Chivas Settled For Rios Over Brandon Vazquez
The reason that Zaldivar is headed to San Luis is because Chivas signed Daniel Rios from Charlotte FC. To be fair to Zaldivar it’s not like Rios bagged too many more goals than him in the last season. Rios found the back of the net 7 times in 20 plus appearances at Charlotte FC. We’ve mentioned already that Brandon Vazquez was the MLS player that Chivas had their eyes on. However, all of the offers that Chivas made for Vazquez were turned down. This goes back to the Pelaez era as sporting director at Chivas.
Knowing he had to move forward bringing a fresh face like Rios and getting rid of Zaldivar can buy Hierro some time to find the striker that can really be a difference for this team. Heading into the season Rios will compete for a starting role with Ormeño who is still on the roster, and Jose Juan Macias who’ll be coming off injury. Macias isn’t necessarily a fan favorite, but if he can get back to what he was at Leon, Chivas may have something there.
Hierro & Paunovic So Far Get A Pass
We said we liked the European tour that Chivas did. Particularly in the winter months because La Liga teams are truly trying to get back on track. So perhaps these games were a bit more intense than your typical summer friendly game that’s boring to watch. The signings that they’ve made so far haven’t been major. There’s certainly that blemish on Hierro’s record that he couldn’t get Vazquez signed so they took Rios who is by no means as intriguing of a prospect. We can’t blame Hierro too much though for that failure. Vazquez is looking at Europe and not Liga MX, and he’s right to do so!
As far as Paunovic goes we were very skeptical of him when he got signed, and said so in an article. So far so good though. The team is playing up to the level that they can play at. Don’t expect them to blow past all of the other teams this season. They held their own though in Spain, now they’re in the final of the Copa Sky. What more could you ask of them at this point?
