Rodolfo Pizarro is returning to his old stomping grounds…
Major League Soccer side Inter Miami CFhas loaned the 27-year-old Mexican professional footballer and Mexico international to Liga MX club Monterrey, the clubs announced on Tuesday.
It marks a return to Los Rayadosfor Pizarro, who initially left the club to join David Beckham‘s Miami side as a Designated Player for its inaugural 2020 season. The loan includes an option to make the move permanent.
“This loan gives the club more options to continue managing our roster. We are working tirelessly to acquire the right players that will help us attain our objectives moving forward. We’re glad to have found an opportunity for Rodolfo to continue developing in Mexico and wish him well during his loan,” said Inter Miami CF Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director Chris Henderson.
Pizarro appeared in 47 matches and tallied seven goals and 12 assists during his time at Miami, playing under coaches Diego Alonso and Phil Neville. He played 64 games with nine goals during his first stint with Monterrey.
The Tampico, Tamaulipas native won a Liga MX title in each of his stints with Pachuca, Chivas and Monterrey and also won the CONCACAF Champions League with the latter two sides.
By joining the defending CONCACAF Champions League winners for a second time, Pizarro is set to participate with Monterrey at the Club World Cup in February.
The 45-year-old Argentine former-footballer-turned-manager has confirmed that he’ll remain manager of the San Jose Earthquakes and won’t be leaving to take up the reins at Liga MX side C.F. Monterrey.
Since Almeyda was named the Quakes manager last year, there have been speculation that Almeyda would depart. Various reports last week had Almeyda exiting the Quakes to join up with LosRayados, who subsequently hired Antonio Mohamed.
Speaking at his season-ending press conference, Almeyda confirmed that he’s had several offers from different clubs over the course of the year, as well as one national team from South America. He added that his agent, Lalo Hernandez, had met with Monterrey officials.
“I thanked them that they thought about me,” said Almeyda about Monterrey with the help of a translator. “And keeping in mind the contract that I had here, I told them that I cannot keep going with these talks because my mind is here in San Jose and my players. And with the directors, we’ve talked about having project and moving up the hierarchy in this club and which I believe in, and which I’ve projected my life here now.”
Almeyda admitted that the Monterrey job was attractive, but that he sees his future in San Jose.
“A club like Monterrey is tempting to any coach, because they have a very rich squad, a marvelous club, and it’s a club in which any coach would dive in head first,” he said. “If I was in Monterrey and the same thing would have happened, I would have stayed in Monterrey because I keep my word. Many Mexican journalists have called me, throughout these days, which we spoke about. I publicly apologize because I never responded to their calls. So everything that was spoken was their own imagination and lies. That’s why I want to be honest with myself. I’ve been honest with people in San Jose, and I’ve been honest with the approach that Lalo Hernandez had there. I have nothing left to say but thank you to those people.”
Almeyda has previously managed River Plateand Banfield in his native Argentina, as well as Liga MX side Chivas. He said that in his previous stints, he had always left by mutual agreement, and not because he simply wanted to leave for a better job. Almeyda admitted that of the offers he received after his tenure with Chivas ended in 2018, San Jose’s offer was the lowest one economically.
“Coaches always get mad when we get fired,” he said. “We have to be coherent and keep going when we have a contract, although the tempting offers are 10 times larger than where you at.”
He added, “I have a group of players for which I’m grateful for what they put in. There’s staff, directors and owners who have given me all that they can. I’m only left to say that I’m grateful being in this place. I’m hopeful that this place will keep growing, that we can grow in terms of hierarchy every day. That’s why changing clubs doesn’t even cross my mind.”
In terms of next season, Almeyda said he didn’t expect there to be many changes to the Quakes’ roster and that the team would be selective in terms of its reinforcements. This despite the fact that while San Jose recorded a 23 point improvement this season, it failed to reach the MLS Cupplayoffs, losing nine of its last 11 games.
