ESPNdeportes.com managed to get a hold of defender Mario Mendez, currently plying his trade under Ricardo LaVolpe at Velez Sarsfield in Argentina, after it was rumored that he was on his way back to Mexican soccer with Cruz Azul.
Mendez denied the reports: "Yeah, it's come up - before the end of the [Clausura 2007], they told me that Cruz Azul was interested in what I was planning on doing, although they didn't speak with me directly. But this Sunday I'm heading back to Argentina - I want to stay there, at Velez they've treated me really well and I want to see out my contract."
Mendez, who is on loan at Velez from Toluca, repeated several times that he is only interested about finishing out the 6 months he has left with Velez, even though it appears that the move away from Mexican soccer may have cost him his spot in the National Team: "Hugo hasn't contacted me whatsoever. But I'm fine with that, that doesn't distract me at all. Right now everyone's talking about how Mexico won an important game and they're all talking about the new people. Honestly, I wish the team the best, and I'm excited about continuing to learn in a foreign country. If they give me a call, great, if not, no problem; I'm going to keep working."
Seems to me that Hugo views Mendez as a dyed-in-the-wool Lavolpista, and he's probably right, considering that Mendez became a fixture in El Tri during LaVolpe's time at the helm, and one of LaVolpe's first moves after taking over at Velez was to convince Mendez to come down.
Cruz Azul could definitely use a player of his caliber, especially considering El Chava Carmona's lifetime ban. The business side of Mexican soccer can, at times, be more convoluted than a Guy Ritchie film, but I wouldn't completely discount the possibility that Mendez is wearing the celeste of Cruz Azul in January 2008.
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