Who's going to sign Efraín Álvarez?

Data from Fotmob, Wyscout and Golstats, photo from Goal.com.

Efraín Álvarez perhaps hasn’t reached the level that was expected when he first impressed at LA Galaxy. But the Mexican-American is still just 22 years old, has shown consistency in Liga MX and was called-up by Vasco Aguirre for the recent CONCACAF Nations League matches. There were rumors about a possible move to Chivas or América this winter, and taking into account Tijuana’s disappointing season, is this the right moment for Efraín to move to a more historic Mexican side?

Álvarez started off on the left-wing for Xolos, but Juan Carlos Osorio placed the winger on the right side, where he had played more frequently in MLS. As a left-footer, Efraín plays as an inverted winger, a popular concept in football recently, and one of the most difficult roles to find, considering the lack of left-footers.

Left-footed Mexican wingers that play on the right, minimum 600 minutes played. I’ve included Diego Lainez for his positioning under Veljko Paunovic, although he’s played more as a wing-back with Guido Pizarro.

There are few options, and most tend to land at wealthier clubs. Also, Romero and Alvarado often occupy more central zones, with Piojo playing some games as an interior midfielder.

If we expand the search to include foreign players, Vitinho is the only option in Liga MX that’s under 25, and has played more than 600 minutes this season. The lack of left-footed right-wingers adds value to a player like Efraín.

What is Efraín’s style of play?

A concept analysis can help to understand his play style, strengths and weaknesses. The analysis shows that he’s a more of a creative attacker, rather than someone who frequently scores himself.

Osorio’s style, with lots of possession and patience in build-up has impacted his ball retention and involvement in attacks. Playing in this high possession style could help Álvarez to adapt to a bigger Liga MX team. The Xolos winger hasn’t needed frequent transitions or direct attacks to be given space to exploit and create chances. He’s able to generate dangerous moments in built-up attacks, against a compact block, which the strongest teams tend to face more often.

Efraín’s defensive work isn’t a strength, despite playing in the team with the lowest PPDA (a more intense high press) during 2024-25.

Percentile ranks compared with other Liga MX attacking midfielders. 0-33. 34-66. 67-100.

How can he improve?

Similar to many Liga MX attacking midfielders, decision making is something that he could improve. The heat maps show that Efraín hasn’t often shot from inside the most dangerous zone, from the center of the penalty area. The majority of his shots come from more difficult angles or outside the box, and his xG per shot is only 0.06.

Also, Álvarez is more effective at creating chances for teammates when inside the right-half-space, inside and outside of the box. Efraín could develop his chance creation by attempting more passes and crosses from these zones, instead of shots.

These examples show the variety that he has to create opportunities. A typical Efraín cross is with his left-foot, using an angle to look for the far-post. His great strength is the lack of time and small back-lift that he requires to produce an accurate ball into the box.

With a small touch towards the left, keeping to ball close to his body, Álvarez creates enough space to find a cross. Given the lack of time between the touch and cross, the defender doesn’t have time to adjust his body and block the attempt. Efraín’s ability to lean towards the right, flexing his ankle, helps him to cross without needing much space between himself and the ball.

He isn’t just limited to left-footed crosses though. For example, he recognizes here that Brayan Angulo is blocking his route onto his left-foot, and therefore he decides to accelerate to the right.

Getting ahead of his marker, Efraín creates a dangerous cut-back situation. Defending 1vs1 against Álvarez is much more challenging given this variation in options and decisions, blocking one of his routes just opens up another.

Apart from his decision making, Álvarez could also improve his ability to protect the ball under pressure. Playing out wide, he doesn’t receive too many passes under pressure, but in these situations, it can be easy to dispossess him. For example, here Efraín doesn’t use his arm or leg to get separation between the ball and the defender, and loses control.

What’s Efraín’s best option this summer?

There are probably six Liga MX teams that could buy Efraín Álvarez. Tigres already have too many Mexican wide attackers, Cruz Azul have Luka Romero, whilst it doesn’t appear that Toluca need another weapon in attack.

América could see him as a replacement for Javairo Dilrosun, and a way of freeing-up another foreign player spot in the squad. Álvarez would provide a different option to Alejandro Zendejas, América’s attacking style could help Efraín to improve his decision making and the signing may be seen as an important long-term investment. However, Zendejas is the clear starter right now, and given a possible lack of minutes, América doesn’t look like the best choice. If Chivas are looking for a player that holds more width than Alvarado, Álvarez seems their best option, but once again he’d need assurances regarding his squad role and Piojo’s position (if he’ll play more frequently in midfield).

The future of Martín Demichelis and Rayados’ vision going forwards is uncertain, but they may represent the option that makes most sense for Efraín. Rayados need to reduce their squad age, and their key attacking-midfielders are all 30 or older (Sergio Canales, Lucas Ocampos, Jesús Corona). All depends on the style of play that they’ll use in the future, but Álvarez could be a great addition.

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