U.S. forward Herculez Gomez moves to Santos Laguna

The U.S. international has been sold by cash-strapped Estudiantes Tecos to Santos Laguna.

Dec 12, 2011 1:18:00 PM

By Nick Rosano

More On :  Santos Laguna, Tecos UAG, H. Gómez
Herculez Gomez, USMNT (Getty Images)

Herculez Gomez is on the move once again. Reports out of Mexico indicate that the American forward has left Estudiantes Tecos to join defeated Apertura finalist Santos Laguna, with the player confirming the move via his Twitter account.
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Reports on MLSsoccer.com and Fox Soccer over the weekend indicated that sources in Mexico had confirmed Gomez's transfer, and the player himself confirmed the move on Monday.

"Very pleased to announce my move to @clubsantoslagun [Santos Laguna] .. A great club with great history. Very proud & excited at the challenge ahead of me," Gomez wrote on his official Twitter account.

In the 2011 Apertura, Gomez led the Tecos scoring chart with seven goals despite ranking 11th among the team in minutes played. However, with the club looking to pay off debts and needing to sign more players in its fight to stay in the top flight, it was expected the team would have to sell players.

Santos will become Gomez's fourth club in Mexico since he moved to the country in 2010. Across two years with Puebla, Pachuca and Tecos, he totaled 22 goals in 60 games, and jointly lead the 2010 Torneo Bicentenario (normally the Clausura) with 10 goals. However, in many appearances he has come off the bench, and he has totaled 2,647 minutes in his two years in Mexico.

After coming up in the Cruz Azul youth system, Gomez featured for the Los Angeles Galaxy, Colorado Rapids and Sporting Kansas City (then known as the Wizards) in MLS before making the move back to Mexico.

He has appeared eight times for the U.S. men's national team, scoring twice, and his scintillating form in 2010 led him to be selected by then head coach Bob Bradley for the 2010 World Cup, where he appeared three times for the U.S.

Gomez's new team was recently defeat 4-1 on aggregate by UANL Tigres in the 2011 Apertura final, marking the third final appearance in four tournaments for the three-time Mexican champions.

The move also means Gomez could soon see action against an MLS team in the shape of Seattle Sounders FC, with Santos Laguna set to meet the reigning U.S. Open Cup winners in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, set for March 2012.

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