Cruz Azul has all its signings for this season

With the arrival of Chilean Felipe Mora and Spanish Édgar Méndez, La Máquina has finished assembling the squad for the Apertura 2017. Although, as Eduardo de la Torre, the team's sporting director, said a few days ago, there will always be the possibility of making one last signing.

However, the operations that the board has carried out this summer contrast greatly with those made in the previous two years, when they brought in many players and very few remained in the squad.

With three additions (Mora, Méndez, and Jordan Silva), plus the return of Gerardo Flores, La Máquina is ready to compete. The objective is clear: the team must get the most out of the core that has been formed for a year, and the three signings will only complement this squad.

SHOPPING SUMMERS

In the summers of 2015 and 2016, Cruz Azul signed a total of 17 players in order to break free from the crisis they were going through. In the Apertura 2015, the board signed ten players, and the following year they brought in seven more. However, out of that number, only four players made it to the Apertura 2017, meaning that 13 players did not meet expectations and had to leave the team prematurely.

In 2015, after a year without qualifying for the playoffs and with the start of Sergio Bueno's project, the board decided to make 10 signings to completely renew the team. They brought in Richard Ruiz, Lucas Silva, Marc Crosas, Matías Vuoso, and Jerónimo Amione, who returned to the club after being loaned out.

They also brought in five more players from abroad: Brazilian Fabio Santos; Argentines Fernando Belluschi, Ariel Rojas, and Federico Carrizo, as well as Paraguayan Jorge Benítez.

That season they did not qualify, and Bueno was dismissed after Matchday 11. In the end, with failure decreed, Belluschi, Amione, Carrizo, and Silva were immediately let go. The following year, Fabio Santos, Crosas, and Vuoso were also released. The last to leave were Ariel Rojas, Jorge Benítez, and Richard Ruiz, just this past season.

For the Apertura 2017, now with Eduardo de la Torre as sporting director and Tomás Boy as head coach, La Máquina invested heavily in proven quality players. For example, they brought in Chilean internationals Enzo Roco and Francisco Silva; they also signed Argentines Julián Velázquez and Jonathan Cristaldo; and from the local league they signed Adrián Aldrete and Jesús Daniel García.

And in the strangest move by the board, already with the tournament underway, they brought in Erick Torres on loan from MLS. A signing that failed almost immediately, as Cubo got injured a few weeks later and missed a significant portion of the season.

After that tournament, Cruz Azul went five tournaments without qualifying for the playoffs, and out of those seven signings, in addition to Cubo, Cristaldo left the team; the following year Jesús Daniel García also left.

BETTING ON CONTINUITY

The reason why Cruz Azul did not make many moves in this summer transfer window, even though it is the longest time between the end and the start of a tournament, which would allow for better adaptation of a signing, is because of the number of players they have signed in the past year who already form the backbone of the team.

A year ago, out of the seven players who arrived, four are still in the squad, although not all as regular starters. For example, Adrián Aldrete and Julián Velázquez are considered part of the starting eleven under Jémez, but the situation is not so clear for Chileans Enzo Roco and Francisco Silva due to the number of players in their position. However, they become automatic luxury substitutes.

In December, the squad was reinforced with more foreign players: Gabriel Peñalba, Ángel Mena, Martín Rodríguez, and Martín Cauteruccio. All of them will remain at the club for this season, and most likely, all of them will start as regulars. However, for Uruguayan Cauteruccio, the competition will be tougher with the arrival of Mora, as it seems unlikely that Jémez will play with two center forwards.

In the past year, Cruz Azul built a backbone of six foreign players, plus Mexicans like Jesús Corona, Julio César Domínguez, and Rafael Baca, there was already a well-defined starting eleven, only needing to incorporate one or two more pieces.

As Eduardo de la Torre said last Saturday, Cruz Azul's bet this semester is on continuity, both from the coach and from a group of players.

"One is always excited at the beginning of the championship when the players you thought could come here arrive, but Cruz Azul's strength at this moment is continuity. The structure stayed and we have six months of knowledge of the coach's ideas, and we have to capitalize on that. I think that's why the team finished the way they did in the last tournament, and that is our strength. The new players will have to push themselves to the maximum, but it is the job of everyone."

FOR THE APERTURA 2017

Jordan Silva: Mexican

Felipe Mora: Chilean

Édgar Méndez: Spanish

*Gerardo Flores: Mexican

*Already in the team since last semester

SUMMER SIGNINGS (LAST 2 YEARS)

FOR APERTURA 2016 (7)

Julián Velázquez - Argentine

*Jonathan Cristaldo - Argentine

Enzo Roco - Chilean

Francisco Silva - Chilean

Adrián Aldrete - Mexican

*Jesús Daniel García - Mexican

*Érick Torres - Mexican

FOR APERTURA 2015 (10)

*Jerónimo Amione - Mexican

*Richard Ruiz - Mexican

*Marc Crosas - Spanish

*Lucas Silva - Brazilian

*Fabio Santos - Brazilian

*Jorge Benítez - Paraguayan

*Matías Vuoso - Argentine

*Ariel Rojas - Argentine

*Fernando Belluschi - Argentine

*Federico Carrizo - Argentine

*No longer in the team