While much of the focus in the Eredivisie this season has been on the outstanding group of young players emerging at Ajax, the league champions appear to have been forgotten.
PSV Eindhoven walked away with the league title, four points ahead of their rivals from the north, and the gap between the two could have been even greater had PSV not drawn their last three games with the title already won.
Spearheading this successful campaign has been 22-year-old Mexican Hirving Lozano, who will be hoping to repeat his club heroics on a national scale and become Mexico’s star at the World Cup.
Background
Lozano began his football career some 50-miles north-east of his birthplace, Mexico City, at Pachuca.
Having progressed through the ranks for both club and country since the age of 11, his final act for the club which developed his talent was to contribute eight goals to their CONCACAF Champions League win in 2017, when Pachuca defeated fellow Mexican side Tigres in the final.
He was the tournament’s top scorer, and his two dramatic late goals in the semi-final second-leg against FC Dallas saw his side scrape through to the final 4-3 on aggregate against the Texans.
On the international scene, he helped a Mexico under-20 side win the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in 2015. He finished joint top scorer, and was named in the team of the tournament.
He’ll be hoping to take this success on to the senior team, and he already has seven goals and 25 caps for Mexico.
Hirving the Horror
Lozano’s nickname, “Chucky”, was given to him as a youth player, when he would hide under the beds of team-mates before springing out to scare them.
In a similarity with Brazilian footballers, many Mexican players are given nicknames at an early age. The most high profile of these is currently Chicharito, or 'little pea' — the striker who once poached goals for Manchester United and Real Madrid — but the winger named after a doll from horror films could soon overtake him.
Lozano now focuses all his energy on putting the frighteners on opposition defenders rather than sleeping team-mates, and he’s grown into one of the most exciting young players in world football.
Right Move
It has been a sensible career progression so far, and it has taken him from the country of his birth to a league in Europe which is an ideal springboard for young players from the Americas.
Too often a potential wonderkid will make their way across the Atlantic to one of Europe’s big clubs, but their talent will fail to register or develop due to a lack of game time or too much pressure.
A spell in the Eredivisie, or another development league such as Portugal or France, is the ideal move for a young player with prodigious talent.
The likes of Ronaldo, Romario, and Park Ji-sung made their moves from elsewhere in the world to PSV, and compatriots Carlos Salcido, Francisco Rodriguez, Andrés Guardado and Héctor Moreno all donned the red and white stripes. Lozano could be the next world-class talent off their production line.
PSV Heroics
He moved to PSV Eindhoven for an undisclosed fee, but one which is thought to have been around €20 million Euros. A promise of a good chunk from any future sale may have been given to soften the financial blow for the buying club.
His stats this season show how quickly he has adapted to Dutch football, and how much better he is than most players in the league already.
Despite playing most of his games on either wing, the right-footer was PSV’s top scorer with an outstanding 17 goals. This put him fifth on the league wide goalscoring charts, and he also contributed eight assists.
National team-mate Moreno recently described him as the quickest player in the Mexico squad, and his speed, directness, and dribbling skill are what sets him apart from other players. He’s played on either flank, with Transfermarkt indicating that his time on each side was split evenly, with 16 games from the left, and 16 on the right.
He averaged 2.9 key passes per game last season, with an average of 3.8 shots and 4.1 dribble attempts per 90 minutes.
If he can take this form into the World Cup there is no doubt that he’ll be one of its stars.
Mexico have landed in a tough group with holders Germany, Sweden, and South Korea, but it’s one which is primed for someone to step up and guide their team to the knockout stages. Lozano could be that player.
Future?
Any eye-catching performances at this tournament will lead to interest from some of the bigger sides across the continent. Lozano is rumoured to have a £30 million release clause in his contract, and was already linked with Manchester United and Arsenal prior to joining PSV.
He has since been linked with Manchester City and Liverpool, and the man who brought him to PSV, sporting director Marcel Brands, is now at Everton, but the intent and ambition of the Merseyside club in the transfer market remains to be seen.
As part of the deal with PSV, it was rumoured that Pachuca would be entitled to 40 percent of any future transfer fee, so the Dutch champions will want a good amount for him to boost their 60 percent.
Lozano’s only focus at the moment, however, is on international football, and helping propel Mexico out of their group with his own brand of direct, entertaining football.
