Liga MX increasingly looking to MLS for players

As the strength of MLS rosters continues to rise, Liga MX teams are increasingly looking north of the border to reinforce their squads.

There is still more than a month to go until the start of the 2026 MLS season but already we have already seen a number of key players move from the U.S. to the Mexican top flight.

Over the past year Pumas UNAM have been a leader in this trend, moving to bring in two top performers from MLS. Pumas signed Adalberto Carrasquilla from Houston Dynamo in early 2025, following that up with Vancouver Whitecaps star Pedro Vite last summer.

CD Guadalajara have also leaned heavily on MLS, particularly in search of Mexican-American talent. Results have been mixed, but players such as Miguel Tapias from Minnesota United, Daniel Aguirre from the LA Galaxy and now Brian Gutiérrez from the Chicago Fire show promise.

Are MLS players good enough for Liga MX?

Regardless of the on-field results between teams from the two leagues, rivals fans will always insist that theirs is the stronger, more interesting league. With players increasingly moving between the two, we are starting to see how they really compare.

The most notable moves from MLS to Liga MX at the start of 2026 include Gutiérrez from Chicago Fire to Chivas, Luca Orellano from FC Cincinnati to Monterrey and Josef Martínez from the San Jose Earthquakes to Tijuana. We have also seen Danny Leyva move from Seattle to Necaxa, Carlos Gruezo leave San Jose for Santos Laguna and Rodrigo Schlegel move from Orlando City to Atlas.

The Liga MX sides will hope that they have bought wisely but there are countless examples of exciting transfers that failed to live up to expectations. In recent years Cruz Azul have signed Giorgos Giakoumakis from Atlanta United and Mateusz Bogusz from LAFC, but neither has truly performed. Chivas fans have been underwhelmed by the output from Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández and Alan Pulido after their returns to Liga MX.

Another recent disappointment was Héctor Herrera, who left the Houston Dynamo to join Toluca but failed to find consistency with the two-time Mexican champions. Herrera is now set to return to MLS, proving that these MLS-to-Liga MX moves are far from simple.

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