Mexico national team defender César Montes said he’ll play in the Spanish second division with Almería next season after the club’s relegation.
Almería is currently dead last in La Liga, having won just two games out of 34 in a season that has already seen it clinch relegation.
For Montes, it is a second straight relegation from La Liga. The 27-year-old was relegated with Espanyol last season before moving to Almería ahead of the current campaign.
This time around, though, Montes has said he won’t be looking to depart the club in the offseason.
“My goal is to stay in Europe,” Montes told Claro Sports.
“I am in the Almería project and we had to go down unfortunately, but now I will compete in the second devision to return the team to where it deserves.”
Montes said he had offers to return to Liga MX, where he starred for several seasons at Monterrey, but is determined to continue in Europe.
The defender said he’d like to see more Mexicans join him in Europe, but he believes the high asking price from some Liga MX sides is preventing many of his compatriots from making the jump.
“I would like more Mexican soccer players to come, but we are very expensive,” he said.
“Mexican players are very expensive for the European market. It’s hard for us to leave. It was hard for me, I had to play in the Olympics, a World Cup, have great seasons with Monterrey, and even so the teams here have doubts.”
Montes has earned 45 caps with Mexico, starting all of El Tri’s matches at the 2022 World Cup, as well as three of four games at the Nations League finals in 2023 and 2024.
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