Mexicans Abroad Minute: Chicharito saves West Ham, a young Guardado meets Messi

Jon Arnold

Mexicans Abroad Minute: Chicharito saves West Ham, a young Guardado meets Messi image

With the winter transfer window nearing a close, we could see a handful of Mexico internationals making moves at the deadline.

Nothing is confirmed yet, though, and all eyes will be on Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez. The star Mexico forward looked likely to join Turkish side Besiktas, but West Ham United may try to convince the forward his Premier League days are far from done. A rash of injuries to other attackers has left David Moyes with few options going forward. Chicharito boosted his own case with a slick goal last weekend, scoring the equalizer for the Hammers in their Premier League match against Bournemouth and moving just a goal behind Marko Arnautovic for the team lead.

While Andres Guardado's position at Real Betis is secure - Guardado again started and went the full 90 minutes for Betis as he has in every La Liga match in 2018 - he had a week he may want to forget. The team held tough against Liga leader Barcelona on Sunday and entered scoreless into the break. Afterward, though, there was no stopping Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and crew. Barca earned a 5-0 triumph with Betis now looking forward to Monday's trip against Celta de Vigo.

It wasn't all bad for anyone named Guardado, though. Andres' young son Maximo was able to meet Messi and Guardado's wife uploaded a photo of both the international legend and the potential future Mexico international both beaming. 

Guardado could have company soon at Betis. Miguel Layun missed out on the last two Porto squads and is trying to make a move to La Liga. He's been heavily linked to a reunion with Guardado at Betis, something that would help his form ahead of this summer's World Cup. Layun didn't play in Porto's cup loss to rival Sporting. Hector Herrera started but missed his penalty kick that would've helped Porto move on after a scoreless draw.

As always, check out the video above for a quick video rundown of how Mexico's Europe-based players are performing.

Jon Arnold

Jon Arnold Photo

Jon Arnold covered the Mexico national team and Concacaf region in English for Goal until March 2020. His byline also has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, the New York Times Goal blog, FloFC and Pacific Standard. In addition to his written work, he serves as the Concacaf expert on the BBC's World Football Phone-In and has appeared on SiriusXMFC in English and Fox Deportes and Milenio in Spanish. Formerly based in Tijuana and currently living in Texas, Jon covered the 2018 World Cup, the 2015 Copa America, the 2016 Copa America Centenario and the last five Gold Cups.