For those players who are highly prized, and often by more than one potential suitor, the groundwork for any deal to be done will normally begin well before the opening of the window.
Iraola's cryptic response when asked about Gilberto Mora
That allows everyone involved to thrash out the terms ahead of time, so that the contract signing becomes just a small matter of dotting the i's and crossing the t's once clubs are able to do so.
One player that's likely to cause a bit of a fuss in the January window is Tijuana's incredible 18-year-old prodigy, Gilberto Mora.
Having only recently turned 18, the brilliant young Mexican is now free to negotiate with teams across the world, particularly in Europe, with a view to a big money move.
Liverpool are one of the teams that have been mentioned as being interested in Mora's services, and manager Andoni Iraola made no attempt to suggest otherwise, simply saying "let's see" in a recent post-match interview when asked if the player could be on his way to Anfield.
Second youngest scorer in Liga MX
Other clubs credited with an interest in Mora are Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as Borussia Dortmund, and their courting of the talented teen is understandable.
At 15 years and 308 days old, in August 2024, he became the third youngest footballer to debut in Liga MX, and just 12 days later he got on the scoresheet to become the second youngest to ever score in the league.
He is the sixth youngest player to be part of a World Cup squad, the youngest to debut for Mexico (16 years, 257 days) and the youngest to score for his national team (17 years, 347 days old).
It's no wonder his current club tied him down to a new three-year contract in June, though his paltry €25m release clause means that it's highly likely he'll move on at the turn of the new year.
Mora is coping with the pressure
Considering the immense pressure placed on his shoulders, Mora has been a revelation and hasn't allowed it to affect his natural game in any way whatsoever.
As a right-footed left winger, he loves to drift inside and bamboozle his direct opponent with his outrageous dribbling skills, though he can also play as a second striker and certainly hasn't disgraced himself in that position either.
To give a little more perspective on just how good Mora is, only teammates Raul Zuniga and Kevin Castaneda have scored more than his 13 goals since his first team debut, and just eight other squad players have made more than his 57 appearances.
His shot accuracy of 58.49% is the best in the entire squad apart from Carlos Gonzalez (63.64%), and 75 total shots attempted also see him in the silver medal position, behind Castaneda.
Great set of numbers
A total of 52 chances created keeps him well in the top bracket for this metric at Tijuana, whilst an 88.49% pass completion rate places Mora second again, this time to Christian Rivera (90.91%).
With 51 corners taken (the second most) and an accuracy of 29.17%, there's nothing to reproach Mora for in that part of his game, though his crossing ability certainly needs work.
Of the 28 that he's attempted since debut, only eight have found their target, and that's a metric that clearly needs some improvement.
He's no slouch when it comes to defensive responsibilities, though, which is unusual in one so young, and is another string to his impressive bow.
To date, Mora has made 168 ball recoveries, 19 clearances and 22 interceptions, and contested 308 ground one-on-ones, winning just less than half for a 49.35% success rate.
A 71.43% tackle success rate is slightly misleading as he's only attempted 28 since his first match; however, he has won 20 of them.
For a player that's still so young, it's a phenomenal set of stats, so if he were to continue on the same trajectory as he gets older, there's no telling how far he can go in the game.
Certainly, at €25m, clubs can't afford to be backwards in coming forward, as they'd be missing out on what could turn out to be one of the bargains of the century.
Jason Pettigrove has been the features writer for Flashscore since 2025, utilising Opta data to form the basis of his articles. He has previously worked for high-profile football clubs, news and media outlets, both in print and digital, and can usually be found watching FC Barcelona when time permits. You can read more of his pieces here.
