Liga MX Loses Golden Boot Winner, Mexico Star to European Transfer

Mexico national team striker Armando González has left boyhood club Chivas for Olympiacos.

The Greek giants have struck a deal with Chivas worth an initial $10 million (€8.5 million) plus €2 million in add-ons, meaning the final package could make the 23-year-old striker Olympiacos’s most expensive signing of the 21st century.

A sell-on clause was also included in the deal that allows Chivas to keep 20% of the players rights for any potential future transfer.

González pushed for a move to European soccer all summer and now he’ll join the most successful side in Greek soccer history, on a mission to dethrone AEK Athens as the country’s league champions.

Armando González Deserved Move to European Soccer

Armando Gonzalez — Armando González had a breakout 2025–26 with Chivas. | Jam Media/Getty Images

It’s been a metoric rise for “La Hormiga” in the past year. He struggled to carve himself a prominent role for Chivas early in his career, alternating between the senior side and the club’s second team in Mexico's second division. But since the start of the 2025–26 season, González has not stopped scoring.

Manager Gabriel Milito arrived ahead of the Apertura 2025 season and trusted González as his starting striker over the likes of Alan Pulido and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. In his first full season as a starter, Gonzalez scored 12 goals and won the Liga MX Golden Boot award.

The striker kept up his form and bagged another 12 goals during the Clausura 2026 season, scoring his way towards a deserved call up to represent Mexico in the 2026 World Cup. Although he featured in just one game for El Tri this summer, he’d already showcased he was ready for a move outside of Liga MX.

His 24 goals in 36 games for Chivas in 2025–26 were the most of any Mexican player in all of Liga MX and second only to Atlético San Luis’s João Pedro’s 26 over the last two seasons in Mexico’s top flight. González leaves Chivas having scored 29 goals in 69 appearances for the club.

‘The Biggest Club in Greece’ Comes Calling

From Mexico to Greece for Olympiacos!🔴⚪🇲🇽🇬🇷#OlympiacosFC #Greece #Mexico pic.twitter.com/JEErvdfelR
— Olympiacos FC (@olympiacosfc) August 22, 2026

González was officially unveiled as an Olympiacos player over the weekend and the Mexican forward shared his feelings on completing his dream move to European soccer.

“I’m very happy,” González said. “It’s a great opportunity, I’m very thankful with the club [Olympiacos] for giving me this opportunity, for them wanting me this much. I’m very happy and very excited to be here at the biggest club in Greece.”

“This is a very big club, a historic club and I know what I can accomplish here, what I want to accomplish here,” González added.

Closed an eight-year chapter at Chivas, González didn’t leave without sharing a final goodbye and a teary-eyed wish for the future.

“I lived here, I grew up here, I was formed here,” González said about Chivas. “I’m a Chivas brother for my entire life, so I want to thank you for everything. I love you all and I hope this isn’t a goodbye but a see you soon, because I’m alway going to be from Chivas. I love you.”

González is the first Mexican player to leave Liga MX for European soccer this summer. With only a week to go in the transfer window, there’s a good chance he remains the lone export despite Mexico’s overwhelmingly positive 2026 World Cup campaign.

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