Confirmed Transfers

Sergi Guardiola is 24 years old, which is certainly old enough to know that nowadays potential employers always check out your social media accounts for bad stuff.

This is why every college and career counselor ever tells you to make sure your social media accounts are either squeaky clean or uber-private before you apply for jobs, to make sure your reputation isn't damaged in the eyes of potential employers.

Guardiola, it appears, has never talked to a career counselor (we don't even know if European footballers have that sort of thing), because he went from this:

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.

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. 

While leading Portland in both appearances and minutes played throughout the course of the campaign, Villafana also chipped in with a goal and four assists from the fullback position. 

The beautiful game is constantly evolving and adapting with the times and technology on and off the pitch. A perfect example of this is the technology used by London and Premier League giants, Chelsea FC.

Manchester United have been having problems at striker, with their only three options being possibly-over-the-hill Wayne Rooney, midfielder Marouane Felaini and 18-year-old Anthony Martial. That's why it seemed to many an unwise decision when they sold 27-year-old Mexican striker Chicharito Hernandez to Bayer Leverkusen during the transfer window.

Hernandez has been on fire for Leverkusen, scoring eight goals in his last six games, propmting one prominent Manchester United player, goalkeeper David de Gea, to question the decision to sell Chicharito.

With the closing of the 2015 summer transfer window, many European clubs found themselves heading into the season with a worrying lack of options at the striker position. It wasn't for lack of trying, it simply seemed as though world-class European strikers were at a bare minimum.  

The classic, predatory center-forward, capable of providing a steady influx of goals in the box while constantly menacing the opposition's center backs, seems to have neared extinction. 

He was the man of the match when Real Madrid claimed “La Decima” over arch-rivals Atletico Madrid. With him, Los Merengues won two Copa del Rey titles, one Supercopa de Espana, the 2011-12 La Liga title, and the 2014 UEFA Super Cup. Yet, Argentine international Angel Di Maria said he was forced out of Madrid in order to cover costs.