FC Dallas have reached an agreement to transfer Homegrown midfielder Alejandro Zendejas to Liga MX's Chivas Guadalajara, the club announced Friday.
The official move comes a day after Goal.com reported that Zendejas would be on the move to Chivas for a fee that is “believed to be around $500,000.”
“It’s a great representation of our model here,” said FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja in a statement provided by the team. “Alex came into the academy from an alliance we have with El Paso. He’s played for the youth national team, the first team and now he’s being sold to one of the most popular clubs in the world and that’s amazing.”
Zendejas, 18, signed as FC Dallas' 13th Homegrown player on Oct. 2014, after joining the FC Dallas academy in 2012. He made his MLS debut on June 13, 2015 and totaled 187 minutes across eight league appearances last season. He has not appeared for FCD this season.
“I want to thank everyone at FC Dallas from the players to the coaching staff who taught me so much,” said Zendejas. “I have grown so much in Dallas as a player and a person and I will always be proud and grateful to say I'm from the FC Dallas Academy. Thank you to the fans for their support. I’ll always remember my time in Dallas.”
Zendejas has also featured the the US youth national teams. He played every minute for the Under-17 men's national team at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup and was recently called up to the U-20 national team. Zendejas does possess a Mexican passport, and though Chivas have a longstanding policy of fielding only Mexican players, they have signed other Mexican-American dual citizens in the past.
