Rumor: LAFC to swoop in for Chivas defender Oswaldo Alanís?

Reports out of Mexico this week claim Mexican international Oswaldo Alanís, locked in a contract dispute with current club Chivas de Guadalajara, could be on his way to 2018 MLS expansion team Los Angeles Football Club.

90min.com reported that LAFC could offer a solution to the impasse between Alanís and Chivas, as they are reportedly interested in the defender. It has been widely reported in Mexico that Alanís, 28, has refused to sign a contract extension with Chivas, and as a result the team has demoted him to the reserves in punishment to try and intimidate him into changing his mind.

There’s no question this move has worked many times in the past in Mexico, but recent efforts by players to break the system known as the “gentleman’s agreement,” where teams literally collude to limit competition between teams and blackball players who don’t fall in line, seem to be picking up steam. Prominent players have made the first moves to unionize, and considerable support for Alanís as he’s being punished has publicized this issue.

So, it’s worth wondering first, whether LAFC are actually interested in Alanís, and second, if Chivas would sell him to them. Alanís is regarded as a starting center back for Mexico, but if he’s put on the shelf for the 2018 Clausura, he’ll most likely lose his spot on El Tri’s World Cup roster. He’s also capable of playing in both a two- and three-man central defense, something that could prove useful to Bob Bradley, who already has two starting-caliber center backs on the roster in Walker Zimmerman and Laurent Ciman. Alanís has also been successful on the club front, winning both league and Copa MX titles with both Santos Laguna and Chivas. He’s a player who would probably cost a lot of money, if not necessarily to buy with his contract expiring in the summer, then in wages.

And would Chivas actually opt to sell him at all? That seems unlikely, although Jorge Vergara could always use the money. The optics of selling a player to the MLS team that is replacing Chivas USA would be strange, but there’s a very good chance that Vergara has fully forgotten about his MLS venture, so who knows.

This is a rumor, but until we start advancement of the initial in the American press I’d say this is a pretty unlikely one for the time being. Still, with there being pressure put on this situation, you can’t say it’s totally impossible, so stay tuned.

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