Starts in friendly against Rayados: Con estos 11 #Guerreros saltamos al campo de juego a disputar el encuentro amistoso ante @Rayados. #SinGuerrerosNoHaySantos pic.twitter.com/HJuVYRctPb— Club Santos (@ClubSantos) November 12, 2016 And he scored: MTY 0-2 SAN | #PartidoAmistoso ⚽28' ¡Goooooool de @JVillafana19! ¡Diagonal de @MauroCuero definida por el zurdo! pic.twitter.com/rXHhtPO8xF— Club Santos (@ClubSantos) November 12, 2016
Started the 2nd half in a preseason friendly (50 minute halves) against Real Zamora: Alineación #Santos: Julio G., Villafaña, Murillo, Angulo, Sánchez, de Buen, Andrade, Cuero, Antuna, Armenteros y Ronaldo C.— Club Santos (@ClubSantos) December 15, 2016
Starts 2nd half in another preseason friendly: En la segunda mitad #Santos juega con Acevedo, Angulo, Enríquez, Murillo, Villafaña, Andrade, Armenteros, Dávila, Antuna, Cuero y Cisneros.— Club Santos (@ClubSantos) December 18, 2016
Starts the 3rd period in a preseason friendly against Pumas: Starting XI vs. @PumasMX: Acevedo, VIllafaña, Murillo, Caicedo, Angulo, Chaton, Andrade, Dávila, Cuero, Antuna & Ronaldo.— Club Santos EN (@ClubSantosEn) December 23, 2016
On the bench in the Clausura opener. 19 year old Jorge Sanchez gets the start at LB for Santos Laguna.
Free Villafana. I bet over half the teams in the league would love to have him at LB, and we'd probably love to have him at January Camp. Things really went south for his usage, and the team, once Chepo took over. I'm surprised Chepo survived after that debacle. Probably wouldn't have if he wasn't a name. Santos' standard plummeted dramatically. LigaMX is funny. They take a couple weeks off and all of sudden they turn from high-powered offenses to impotent ones. 5 of 12 with zero goals, 3 with 1, only 1 with more than 2.
On the bench again: Your starting XI for los Guerreros vs. @ClubTiburones! On the bench: Julio, Chatón, Armenteros, Villafaña, Davila, Cuero, de Buen. pic.twitter.com/0svBdIJ7RD— Club Santos EN (@ClubSantosEn) January 15, 2017
Starts in Copa MX with Alvarado: #AlineaciónGuerrera Con estos 11 jugadores, saltamos al campo del @EstadioAzteca por los tres puntos 👊 pic.twitter.com/avSUOAacv3— Club Santos (@ClubSantos) January 19, 2017
On the bench: This is our starting XI tonight against @FuerzaMonarca. On the bench: Julio G., Abella, Ventura, Villafaña, Armenteros, Davila, Cuero. pic.twitter.com/pf7N2eLISH— Club Santos EN (@ClubSantosEn) January 22, 2017
Starts in Copa MX: Los 11 #Guerreros que inician para el partido ante @Coras_FC. ¡A dejar el corazón en la cancha! 💪⚽#SinGuerrerosNoHaySantos 🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/QCJ8yydZ8v— Club Santos (@ClubSantos) January 25, 2017
USMNT callup: Grateful for the opportunity to represent the U.S. national team .… https://t.co/9ikJGXcQeL— Jorge Villafana (@JVillafana19) January 25, 2017
Sort of the odd "great he can come into camp when Liga MX is in season" countered with "why can he come into camp when Liga MX is in season?"
1/2 Chepo De La Torre prefers SL Club youth team member Gerardo Arteaga to Jorge Villafaña at LB..— herculez gomez (@herculezg) January 25, 2017 2/2 Don't think USMNT call up means move to back to MLS. SL creating more market value for Villafaña by allowing him to join USMNT.— herculez gomez (@herculezg) January 25, 2017
He lived in Mexico from like 3-14 and is a Mexican citizen, so I doubt that's true. And that wouldn't be a reason to not play him after he was already on the roster. It might have implications on another move inside LigaMX. But they should expand their transfer options to Europe. Of course if they think outside the border they aren't bound by the Mexican transfer window, rather whatever window the prospective receiving country would have.
Here are the rules in Liga MX right now: Known as the 10/8 rule, the measure was designed to curb the rapid naturalization of foreign-born players by ensuring that at least eight players born in Mexico are included in each 18-player gameday roster. Under the rule, naturalized Mexicans and US-born Mexican-Americans will now count as foreigners. The previous rule allowed each team to field five foreigners and an unlimited number of naturalized Mexicans. There is a special clause in the rule for dual citizens of Mexico and the US. Previously, the right to Mexican citizenship for anyone who had one parent born in Mexico meant that Mexican-American players were counted as Mexicans when registered with Liga MX. That’s changed under the new rule, which states that “players with dual Mexican-American nationality will be considered as one of the eight [Mexican] players if when they first register with the FMF [Mexican federation] they haven’t reached 19 years.” Depends on if he ever registered with FMF while he was a child.
Video interview on his call-up: http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...t-call-jorge-villafana-still-living-the-dream
Debuted for the USMNT yesterday. A profile: https://natsabroad.com/they-call-me...ove-he-s-what-the-u-s-ac2e5a8713f9#.qg337dyr9
Can they loan within the league after the transfer window is closed? That's something he seemingly could use, as well as another who would appreciate him and his defensive awareness, good touch, sensible passing, and occasional impressive foray forward. I've said it before, but I think it's crazy he's not starting the way he was playing. It was more so due to scapegoating for a bad team season and not fitting the preferred style maybe. Disregarding style, and just looking at ability, I think he's good enough to start at a high majority of teams in Mexico. He may well be good enough to start at a number of top 5 league clubs even, although at this stage in his career it seems very unlikely that will ever happen. If not a loan in Mexico, then he'd have a limited list of viable leagues he could transfer or be loaned to. It would probably be back to MLS. Have to think there would be no shortage of clubs who would want him on loan and start him regardless of their lack of investment in him.