This Thursday the Ravel Morrison move to Liga MX team Atlas was made official by the club. The move was surprising, ambitious and a great opportunity for Atlas to improve its squad and a massive opportunity for Ravel Morrison to revitalize his career.
The move also helps the Liga MX gain exposure around the world as the transfer featured in publications around Europe. Just recently there have been these types of moves in Mexican soccer that have progressively helped the internationalization of the league. Going back to 2015 when Tigres UANL signed the now considered best player in the Liga MX, Andre-Pierre Gignac.
Since then there had not been many of these surprising and ambitious moves until this season. Right before the Apertura 2017 kicked off, Pachuca signed Japanese international Keisuke Honda from AC Milan. This has massively helped the league grow as Pachuca games are now even being broadcast in Japan, which is a monumental step in helping the league reach a broader audience.
There are key differences with those two moves compared to the Ravel Morrison transfer. Ravel Morrison is a fantastic player with major potential that is looking to resurrect his career but Gignac and Honda were already renowned players very well respected in their respective countries.
Morrison is not in high-regard in England after some controversies in the past but many people are pulling for him to get back on track with this move. The other major difference is that Atlas is not the same caliber of a club as Pachuca or Tigres UANL and do not have the same financial backing as those clubs. Tigres is now considered the best team in the country and even in the American continent while Pachuca has always been a model of consistency of how a Liga MX club should be run.
¡Descarga el wallpaper de nuestro nuevo refuerzo @morrisonravel!
Lo encuentras aquí ➡️ https://t.co/sokPK2njmv#WelcomeRavel ?⚫️ pic.twitter.com/WoOSohnFTm
— Atlas FC (@atlasfc) September 1, 2017
Atlas has been considered a team that the trouble makers of Guadalajara choose to support instead of archrivals Chivas. Los Rojinegros have also not shown much success recently as the last league title for the club came in 1951. The team, like Cruz Azul, has developed into a joke or a mockery by some fans and is not considered a top club in Mexico despite having produced some excellent players from its youth academy over the years.
Los Zorros are currently fighting relegation which is the main thing to consider when further analyzing this risky and ambitious move. From a footballing perspective, the move is very risky as Atlas is currently last on the relegation table and it is unclear if Ravel Morrison will improve the squad. The fact that a team that is currently fighting to stay in the Liga MX made a move that helps the league grow showcases the potential of the internationalization of the league.
Why are stable teams that are looking to fight for the championship year in and year out opting for the South American product instead of the Ravel Morrison type of move? The Liga MX is already one of the most respected leagues on the American continent as some of the top players from South America go to the Liga MX to see if they are ready for the next level.
There are countless players throughout the top-tier league in Mexico that play for their national team. A team like Veracruz who is considered one of the weakest teams in the league has the starting goalkeeper of the Peruvian national team, Pedro Gallese. The team has already won fame on the American continent but now it is time to reach broader audiences and the moves this season of Keisuke Honda and Ravel Morrison are stepping stones for the future of the league. But other teams who do have much stronger financial backing need to be more ambitious than a team that is fighting relegation.
