Carlos Gonzalez ends his time at Pumas as he joins Tigres

Carlos Gonzalez, which for many was the best player in Pumas, became a new Tigres player ending a successful time at Pumas. Gonzalez had the enormous task of replacing Nicolas Castillo at Pumas and did more than a great job at it, winning the love of the fans and becoming a top forward that lead the team to a Liga MX final. Unfortunately for him and the fans, Pumas’ financial woes made things difficult for the team and the rumors abounded that the team would need to sell players with Gonzalez being the first of many expected moves.

The Paraguayan forward started his career at Nacional in Paraguay before traveling to Chile. In Chile he played in four teams (Magallanes, Santiago Wanderers, San Marcos, and Huachipato) before moving to Mexico with Necaxa. Although not a high profile signing with Necaxa, he started getting time and soon became one of the top players in the team, scoring quite a lot of goals and being one of the more promising strikers in Mexico. The fame lead to the interest by Pumas and after striker Nicolas Castillo left for Benfica, Gonzalez joined Pumas. Even with a lot of pressure on him, Gonzalez delivered from the start. He was a key player in a season where Pumas ended up in third place and defeated his current team Tigres before losing out to America in the semifinals. Gonzalez continued being the best player in Pumas, and with Juan Ignacio Dinenno, made a great forward partnership in a surprising 2020 where Pumas were in Liguilla zone before the Clausura 2020 was called because of COVID-19. Things were even better in the Apertura 2020 where even though Pumas had lost their coach a week before the season and nobody thought the team was solid enough to contend to a Liga MX title, Pumas ended up in second place and got all the way into the Final. They were able to come back from a 4-0 loss in the first leg in the semifinals to get a 4-0 win against Cruz Azul and get to the Liga MX Final. In the Final, Gonzalez scored his last goal for Pumas and the club’s only goal of the evening, but after a 1-1 tie in the first leg, Pumas fell 2-0 in the return leg and lost the title.

Carlos Gonzalez made his mark in Pumas. Most fans really appreciated him, but because of Pumas financial problems it’s not a surprise he was sold to Tigres. This is something that has happened throughout Pumas’ history and Gonzalez is the latest name to move on, following players like Jamie Lozano, Francisco Fonseca, Ignacio Scocco, Israel Castro, Nicolas Castillo, and Bruno Marioni who had all gone through this. Unfortunately for Pumas, Gonzalez leaving seems to signify a new transition era for the team, just like past ones. Gonzalez should be a good addition to Tigres as he looks to replace players like Eduardo Vargas and Enner Valencia if Coach Ricardo Ferretti trusts him.