Rafa Marquez debuted for Atlas when he was 17 years old. From there he moved to Monaco, then to Barcelona, then to New York Red Bulls, then to Leon, then to Hellas Verona.

Along the way he won one Ligue 1 title, four La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues, the Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the Copa del Rey and the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura.

He's been named the Ligue 1 Defender of the Year and CONCACAF Player of the Year.

After a rough November in The Premier League, which saw Arsenal collect two points, the Gunners are back on track for a second-half surge for England’s most coveted trophy as they only trail Leicester City by two points. Throw in the 3-0 result against Olympiacos to propel them into the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, as well as the impending chase for a third-consecutive FA Cup, and Arsene Wenger’s team have quite the full plate in front of them.

The Mexican exodus to the German Bundesliga might turn out to be a thing. After Chicharito transferred to Bayer Leverkusen from Manchester United this summer, then proceeded to rip the Bundesliga apart (he was named Bundesliga player of the month for November, and was just named player of the week for last week), another Mexico international attacker is headed to Germany — Marco Fabian is officially headed to Eintracht Frankfurt.

This is exciting news, because Fabian can do stuff like this:

The opening of the January transfer window provides MLS-based players an opportunity to test themselves in the top European leagues, if only for two-months on a loan deal. For the sake of the United States national team, these loan deals are instrumental in providing American players an opportunity to progress. 

The Portland Timbers’ left-back Jorge Villafana is reportedly on his way to Liga MX club Santos Laguna for a transfer fee of just under $1 million. Villafana was a crucial part of the Timbers defense that led Portland to their first ever MLS Cup title. 

After Manchester United’s dismal Champions League elimination at the hands of Wolfsburg this week, Manchester United fans from around the world must have looked at each other and said: “What the hell just happened here?”

All the promise going into this season has disappeared. United’s inability to put together a cohesive and effective attack has lead to their early Champions League exit, and all the people who were excited about the madman master Van Gaal last season are just about ready to call for his head.

He started out as one of the most promising strikers of his generation. Fans raved about him and managers wanted to coach him, but he hit a wall of injuries all of a sudden and his career went crashing down. Regarded by Mexico's manager Juan Carlos Osorio as one of the best wingers in world soccer today, this player is nicknamed after a bird. And like the legend of another famous bird, he is rising from the ashes of his crumbled career. Yes, I’m talking about Alexandre Pato. 

Barcelona have perhaps the greatest forward line ever assembled, but for how much longer?

According to The Sun (so take this information with however many grains of salt you feel are appropriate), Barcelona's wage bill is 73 percent of its total revenue.

The Sun also reported that Barca are planning a £423 million renovation of the Camp Nou.

Neymar's astounding string of performances has managed to get him in the mix to be one of the top players in the world. Nonetheless, off-the-field issues keep the superstar's future very murky.