LIGA MX
Good news for América: “Álvaro Fidalgo is staying”
Match official Luis Enrique Santander asked the Águilas player whether he was thinking about accepting an offer to return to European football.
A number of clubs in Europe have been monitoring Álvaro Fidalgo’s situation at América. The 26-year-old Spanish midfielder has been one of the team’s star performers since his arrival in July 2021 and has attracted interest from clubs back home including Celta, Valencia and Sevilla. There has also been speculation about the player’s possible departure in recent days to Russian top flight side Zenit.
But it looks like Fidalgo, who is under contract until June 2026, will be staying where he is - at least for now. Luis Enrique Santander, the match official who oversaw Wednesday’s Clausura 2024 game between Juárez and América, asked the player directly whether he would be continuing in the Liga MX during the match. To which the Azulcrema player reportedly replied, “Yes, I think so”.
Details of the conversation were published on social media. What is striking, is that the confirmation came from a referee - a match official who confronted the player while he was on duty just moments before the match between the Bravos and Águilas was about to start. Fidalgo was surprised that Santander, along with his assistants: Christian Espinosa, Karen Díaz and Guillermo Pacheco, were so concerned about his future.
Álvaro joined América on the recommendations of former coach Santiago Solari, who knew the player from when he was starting out at Real Madrid’s youth academy. The young player has evolved a lot since then and has already won his first Liga MX title. He is already off the mark in the current tournament, scoring his first goal of the campaign in Wednesday’s 2-0 win against Juárez and Last season, he participated in 15 games, featuring in the starting line-up 13 times, scored one and created one in the 1,171 minutes he spent on-field.
Zenit had hoped to take him to St. Petersburg but for now it looks like Fidalgo will be spending the rest of the Clausura with América with whom he dreams of winning back-to-back titles.