Notes from the Western Frontera - June 24

Tijuana made some player moves this past week. On the men’s side, the club announced the signing of Enzo Kalinski. The 30 year old central midfielder spent last season with Universidad Catolica in Chile, playing in 24 Primera Division de Chile games and five of the six Copa Libertadores matches for CDUC.

It will be interesting to see how Kalinski fits into Chacho Coudet’s game plan. Coudet’s Rosario Central teams typically played a 4-4-2 diamond or 4-2-3-1 formation, which would indicate Chacho looks to go more with the latter, utilizing Kalinski at the 8 with a defensive 6 or next to Joe Corona as a double eight pivot.

The club has also been training at Estadio Caliente, preparing for their June 30 friendly against Cuervos de Ensenada. The team has been posting galleries of these practices online, and some of the shots are pretty amazing.

On the Liga MX Femenil side, Xolos signed goalkeeper Anjuli Ladron. Ladron is in her fourth stint in Mexico, having also played in the United States, Ukraine, Russia, and Spain. According to a press release from Xolos, “She also plays Rugby, Handball, Futsal, beach soccer and is a boxer. She will represent Mexico in the Women’s (American) football World Cup in Canada this year.”

It will be interesting to see if Ladron pushes Isela Parra for the starting goalkeeping job. Parra played exceptionally well for Xolos in the Copa Liga MX Femenil in May, allowing zero goals in the Group Stage of the tournament before allowing nine against Pachuca in the Final.

Rumors worth paying attention to (either because they’ll happen or you can look back and laugh at the absurdity of it all): In addition to the Gustavo Bou and Damian Musto rumors from last week, another name being thrown about is Alejandro Donatti. The Argentine center back currently plays for Flamengo in Brazil’s Serie A, however he did play under Chacho at Rosario Central. I wouldn’t think Xolos would be expressly looking for a center back at this time. With Emanuel Aguilera, Michael Orozco, and captain Juan Carlos Valenzuela all capable of playing I’m not sure where Donatti fits. That said, Transfermarkt has already reported him moving for a fee of €1.5 million so do with that what you will.

Gustavo Bou on the other hand posted on twitter that he’s in Mexico and headed to Tijuana, so this one is worth paying attention to.

The 27 year old Argentine center forward had 16 goals and seven assists in 39 appearances across all competitions in 2016-17 for Racing Club. Bou would be a natural replacement for the departed Aviles Hurtado, although most likely playing more centrally than Hurtado, whose tendency to drift wide to the right in build ups allowed him to slash inside.

Again, nothing has been announced by the club about Musto, Donatti, or Bou so as with any transfer rumors, take it all with a grain of salt.