Three young Mexicans to watch in 2025

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Thought: Having to give minutes to younger players has added an extra challenge to the squad building process. It’s important to develop or bring in a decent level of young talent.

There’s an argument that the regla de menores (youth player rule) has helped some players to get more Liga MX minutes, especially in the case of 2 the 3 of the players profiled in this article.

To understand the strengths, weaknesses and play styles of the 3 players, I will present an analysis of their “playing concepts”. I have developed this idea to try to create an easier way to interpret the large quantity of metrics available.

To maintain a concise article, I won’t go into too much detail about the method that I’ve developed. But in summary, I generated the names of the concepts with help from other analysts, and used a machine learning method (Factor Analysis) to generate weightings for different metrics. Therefore, each player’s concept ratings are made up by multiple weighted metrics.

In the table below, I present the ratings for the 3 players analyzed in this article, in the most important concepts for attacking midfielders (wingers and number 10s). The numbers shown are percentile ranks (between 0 and 100), to quickly show how these players match-up against other Liga MX attacking midfielders.

Concept analysis in Apertura 2024. Red- Percentile 0-33. Orange- Percentile 34-66. Green- Percentile 67-100.

Alán Bautista | Pachuca | 2002

Bautista only played 459 minutes in Apertura 2024, but it seems that he will have more opportunities this season. Bautista started all 3 matches for Pachuca in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, and Pachuca will free-up a spot in midfield when Nelson Deossa completes his move to Monterrey.

Bautista produced 0.37 xG + xA p90 last year in Liga MX, and the concept analysis displays his specific profile. His movement, positioning and decision making has helped him to generate a high goal threat. Bautista has scored 5 goals from dangerous shot locations, in the center of the penalty box, where xG values tend to be higher.

xA, or expected assists, is a way to measure the ability of a player to create scoring opportunities for teammates. When a player assists a shot, they are rewarded with the xG value of the shot, as xA. It’s a more reliable method of measuring creativity than assists, which depends greatly on the finishing ability of teammates.

His primary position is an attacking midfielder (number 10) but he can also start from either wing, particularly from the left. Bautista’s intensity out of possession to press and recover balls is a strength of his game, and an important factor for Guillermo Almada’s playing style.

Bautista’s ball carrying and dribbling abilities are a major limitation, and it isn’t likely that we’ll see a significant development in this concept in the future. One of my historic studies showed that the majority of players don’t improve in this concept after their 21st birthday.

Therefore, to develop his game, Alán can focus on increasing his impact in build-up and ball progression, and creating more via passes. Historically, players have tended to improve in these concepts with more first-team experience.

Isaías Violante | Toluca | 2003

Violante profiles as a inside forward, or a box-attacking winger. With his pace, movement and decision making, Violante creates his own shots and key passes from inside the box. He is also effective with both feet, a rare quality, and reached the 85th percentile for attacking output in Apertura 2024, creating 0.48 xG + xA p90.

By analyzing his shot locations, we can see that the majority of his opportunities come from inside the box, where there’s a higher goal probability (xG). However, to reach the next level and create goals more frequently, it’s important that Violante generates more shots from the centre of the box. Until now, Isaías has shown a tendency to shoot from more difficult angles, especially from the right side.

There’s a lower chance of scoring from outside the central zones, and, by separating his shots on and off target, we can see a lower effectiveness from the right side.

Violante only receives 26.8 passes per game (9th percentile within Liga MX attacking midfielders). Whilst this number should increase with his development, his lack of impact in build-up and ball progression could be seen as a weakness. However, a more direct style under Antonio Mohamed could make the most of Violante’s game, reducing his need to be part of build-up and providing more direct passes to exploit his pace and movement.

Ramiro Árciga | Tijuana | 2004

A new signing for Tijuana, Árciga is the most creative of the profiled players in this article, reaching the 83rd percentile for the concept of chance creation in Apertura 2024.

Playing more from the right in a 3-4-3 at Mazatlán in the past tournament, Árciga has generated danger with movements inside, creating chances from the right half-space and inside the box. He’s produced a variety of types of key passes, including; through balls, crosses to the box and cut-backs from inside the area.

However, Ramiro stand-out most for his work in the defensive phase. Árciga has the work-rate and ability to help his team significantly out of possession. Not only does he press the ball, he also generates recoveries and defends in every out of possession moment. Árciga ranks above the 90th percentile for his tackles won in the 1st, middle and final third of the pitch. This strength could be important in Juan Carlos Osorio’s intense style.

To develop, Árciga needs to find better shot locations, or improve his decision making. He’s shot 27 times in Liga MX without scoring, and lots of his shots come from a tight angles from the right side of the box. Árciga needs to arrive or progress the ball more towards central zones before shooting, or look for a cut-back from those wider zones.

Also, his dribbling success rate (26%) is amongst the worst in the league. His ability and decision making in attacking 1vs1s is another factor to develop his efficiency and lose fewer balls per game.

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