After months of scouting and weeks of negotiations, Club America defender Diego Reyes, was transferred to top Portugal team, FC Porto. Reyes is a young defender with a lot of future as he has already won a 3rd place with Mexico in the Colombia U-20 World Cup, and most importantly a gold medal in the London Olympics.
The deal for Reyes is set, but the player will not move to the Primeira Liga until June 2013. Part of the deal is that he was loaned to America for another six months, allowing the
player to start the new phase of his career at the beginning of a season. Porto signed Reyes to a 5 year deal and an estimated 7 million Euros in what is the biggest sale in the history of Club America.
What this signing means for Mexican soccer
The signing of Diego Reyes by FC Porto is a very intelligent and important move by both the Portuguese club and the Mexican player. Reyes is a very young player who turned 20 only this past September, and who already at his young age has been an every-day starter for Club America and a constant at all levels of the Mexican national team. This is a player who has great height (6 ft. 3 in), good speed, and who can play as a defender and as a defensive midfielder.
Reyes leaving to Europe means that Mexico has a set of good young defenders in two of the world’s best leagues. Hector Moreno who plays for Espanyol is only 24 but he already is a leader in the backline of the national team. With players like Francisco ‘Maza’ Rodriguez playing their last years of quality soccer, Reyes’s move to Portugal comes in handy because it leads us to think that the Mexican backline will be adequately covered.
Only time will tell if Reyes is successful in Europe, or if he will fail like Pablo Barrera and Efrain Juarez who are practically erased from the soccer map. However, if he obtains playing time, he could grow into stardom like other players (Falcao, Hulk, David Luiz) who have used the Portuguese league to expand their talent.
