2016 Mexican Player of The Year

For the sake of this “award,” I am only taking into account what players did in the 2016 calendar year for club + country. Also, the player had to make an appearance with the national team in 2016 to qualify (sorry Bofo fans). Here are my top 5 and their stats for the year.

(Stats as of 12/21)

Javier Hernandez

Games Played: 51

• 10 Mexico
• 9 UCL/UEL
• 3 Cup
• 29 Bundesliga

Goals: 17

• 3 Mexico
• 1 UCL
• 2 Cup
• 11 Bundesliga

Andres Guardado

Games Played: 40

• 11 Mexico
• 6 UCL
• 2 Cup
• 21 Eredivisie

Goals: 3

• 1 Eredivisie
• 2 Mexico

Hirving Lozano

Games Played: 61

• 15 Mexico
• 5 Cup
• 3 CCL
• 38 LigaMX

Goals: 21

• 1 Mexico
• 5 CCL
• 15 LigaMX

Tecatito Corona

Games Played: 50

• 8 Mexico
• 2 Cup
• 8 UCL
• 32 Primeira Liga

Goals: 8

• 3 Mexico
• 2 UCL
• 3 Primeira Liga

Raul Jimenez

Games Played: 48

• 7 Mexico
• 8 UCL
• 7 Cup
• 26 Primeira Liga

Goals: 16

• 1 Mexico
• 2 UCL
• 5 Cup
• 8 Primeira Liga

As a whole, few players truly stood out during national team games this year. Sure, on paper Mexico had a good year (minus that one game) but no single player tore up any of the competitions Mexico played in. The constant player rotations also did not help players to rack up the stats. The leading scorer for 2016 was Chicharito/Tecatito with 3. El Kaiser (& 2 others) were right behind with 2 goals. For those reasons, my pick (and maybe yours) will be skewed towards what they did at the club level.

My pick for the Mexican POTY is: Hirving Lozano. He always answered the call: for club and country. I even argued he answered it too much. Lozano has been hyped up for so long, you almost forget he only turned 21 on July 30th. I know LigaMX isn’t the Bundesliga but let’s not pretend its MLS either (sorry Gio). Its a good league that Lozano terrorized all year long. Pachuca won the 2016 Clausura title with Lozano spearheading the attack, as a 20yr old. He did not provide as much on the national team stage as he did with Pachuca but he was always dangerous when on the field for El Tri. He was part of the much maligned Olympic squad but there’s only so much one player can do. Once Pizarro and Oribe went out, it became even more common for him to face multiple defenders whenever he touched the ball. Chucky broke out in 2016 and cemented his spot as a national team player. He is my pick for 2016 Mexican Player of The Year.

It was a close decision between my other 4 finalists and I would not be surprised to see any of them win the poll below. So who do you think was the 2016 Mexican Player of The Year? Vote below and let us know in the comments.