Why did Florian Thauvin turn up to Tigres training after being released by the Liga MX club?

A bizarre new chapter has been written in the Florian Thauvin-Tigres soap opera, with the Frenchman taking the utmost care to make sure he doesn’t ‘breach’ his contract with the club, which is no longer valid…

Sources close to AS Mexico revealed that the attacker arrived at Tigres’ Cedeco training complex with his lawyer before Tuesday morning’s training session, which he was unable to take part in due to the fact that there was no kit for him (and he is no longer a Tigres player). Not only that, but Thauvin was not even allowed in the door.

The former Marseille man, who was part of the France roster that won the 2018 World Cup, is thought to be unhappy with the manner in which the club terminated his contract and went to Cedeco to avoid being accused of “not doing his job”. However, just a day after it was officially confirmed that he would no longer be a Tigres player, he was – quite literally this time – shown the door.

The Thauvin saga is reminiscent of those of former players Francisco Fonseca and Sebastián González and even some managers, including Néstor Pékerman and Ricardo Ferretti, who, only a couple of years ago, could be seen at Cedeco finalising his departure from the club even though Miguel Herrera had already replaced him.

Why did Tigres terminate Florian Thauvin’s contract?

Thauvin’s contract, which still had over three years to run, was terminated so Tigres could free up a space to register another foreign player - Nicolás Ibáñez - for Liga MX, the Argentinian striker having joined the club from Pachuca.