Gignac and Florian Thauvin: the French stars arrived to bring hierarchy and goals to Liga MX.

The arrival of Florian Thauvin to the Tigres of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) was a surprise both in terms of the Frenchman's relevance and age. Unlike André-Pierre Gignac, who arrived months away from his 30th birthday, the midfielder signed with the San Nicolás de los Garza team at 28. This would have allowed him to continue his career in European soccer with a top team, but his first choice was Tigres.

Flrioriginally from Orleans, France, said that in recent months he had been looking to leave Olympique de Marseille for a new club. Teams from different leagues heard the news, so they prepared and offered deals to the reigning world champion, although none of the ambitious projects ended up convincing him. Although Florian consolidated a solid career over two cycles and nine seasons with Olympique de Marseille, and the directors were interested in keeping him, his interests changed when he became a father. In that sense, he set himself the goal of finding a level and pace of life suited to his new aspirations, the same that the elite of European soccer could not offer him.

"I didn't feel good at the club (Olympique de Marseille), I didn't feel good in my life. My life changed a lot because my son arrived, so I needed to change my life (...) I spoke to my wife. Life in Marseille is very good, but there are things I couldn't do like going out for a walk, there is a lot of pressure. I needed a change to go out in peace with my wife and my son," he said.

Taking advantage of Thauvin's dissatisfaction, the Tigres launched an offer to try to capture the player's interest. André-Pierre Gignac, who spoke to his compatriot and told him about his experience of living in Mexico for five years, as well as the sports project consolidated by Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti, played a fundamental role.

"Every day I saw that Gignac was very happy, I saw him with a smile every day on Instagram. We in Europe, the mentality of the clubs, of the fans, of the player, is very different. There are many other things beyond soccer. It is difficult. What I want is to take advantage of the opportunity and play soccer," he said.

His signing has been the depository of great expectations on the part of the fans. He, for his part, will seek to follow in the footsteps of Gignac, who has already established himself as the top scorer in the team's history and has built a legacy that places him as an undisputed benchmark for Tigres de la UANL.