Luis Malagón

Luis Ángel Malagón Velázquez (born 2 March 1997) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga MX club América and the Mexico national team.

Youth
Born in Zamora, Michoacán, Malagón started his career in the Santos Laguna youth system, joining at the age of 12, and playing for their under-15 side sporadically through the 2012 calendar year. Malagón was then let go by the Torreón squad due to his lack of discipline, and joined his local club Real Zamora, making 33 league appearances in the Liga Premier de México. This would allow him to be spotted by scouts on Michoacán's top club Monarcas Morelia.

Morelia
After impressing in the Mexican lower divisions, Malagón was spotted by Monarcas, and joined their academy for the 2014–15 season. He went on to make 48 appearances across several of Monarcas' youth squads across the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, until being promoted to the first team. In the 2015–16 season, Malagón was third in the pecking order, behind Cirilo Saucedo and Carlos Felipe Rodríguez who split time in the league. Despite this, Malagón was given a chance to play in the cup competition, where he made his first team debut on 16 February 2016 against Necaxa in which he conceded the winning goal in the 88th minute, losing 1–0. Despite making his professional debut, Malagón was still primarily playing for the reserved, making appearances for Monarcas under-20 squad and their third-tier team, with Rodríguez and Sebastián Sosa sharing goalkeeper duties on the first team. Malagón would again be given the chance to play for the first team on the 2018–19 season, when he was given the opportunity to start on another cup match. During that season he firmly cemented himself as Monarcas' backup goalkeeper, making appearances on the cup and was given the chance to make his league debut on 5 April 2019, against Puebla, after Sosa went down with an injury. He had 3 saves and the match ended in a 1–1 tie. After that season he proceeded to split time with Sosa, until cementing himself as a starter for the latter half of the 2019–20 campaign which was cut short due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Necaxa
In June 2020 Malagón completed a move to Club Necaxa, after Hugo González's contract with the club ended, leaving on a free transfer to C.F. Monterrey. He made his debut on July 24, 2020, suffering a loss in the league against Tigres UANL. He quickly cemented himself as the starter across the 2020–21 campaign, with the only games he didn't play coming due to international duty, and an injury he suffered whilst playing for the national team.

Malagón remained Necaxa's starter throughout the 2021–22 season, being praised for his performances despite Necaxa's poor performance in the first half of the season. This included an impressive performance on October 4, against Tigres, in which Malagón made 8 saves, reaching the mark of 100 saves with the club. In the latter half of the season, Necaxa's performances improved, and with Malagón still at a high level, they finished in the 9th position in the league, earning a spot in the repechaje stage of the playoffs. They faced Cruz Azul, but were knocked out on penalties after a 1–1 draw in regular play. Throughout the 2021–22 campaign Malagón played 27 matches, keeping 8 clean sheets in the process.

In the summer of 2022, Hugo González was brought back to Necaxa, fueling speculation about Malagóns future with the club, but Malagón stayed with the Aguascalientes side, welcoming the competition for the number one spot within the organization.

Clausura 2023
On December 2022, as former number one, Guillermo Ochoa departed to Salernitana, Malagón completed a transfer to Club América. It was confirmed that Malagón would wear the #33 shirt for the remainder of the campaign. He would make his unofficial debut later that month.

Though initially serving as a backup for Óscar Jiménez, Jiménez's poor performances and a string of yellow cards for time-wasting early in 2023 saw Malagón given the chance to start against Tigres on March 11, making his official debut for the club, keeping a clean sheet en route to a 2–0 win. Malagón would keep starting throughout the remainder of the season, cementing himself as América's starting goalkeeper, with an impressive penalty save in the dying minutes of an April 8 match against Monterrey, sealing a 2–1 victory for América. América would be knocked out on the Clausura 2023 semifinals by rivals Guadalajara.

2023–24: First League Title
After spending his first season with the designated squad number 33, it was announced that Malagón would wear the number 1 shirt for the 2023–24 season.

Malagón did not play in the first two matches of the season, as he was coming back from international duty for Mexico in the 2023 Gold Cup, with Óscar Jiménez taking his place. He would come back to the starting lineup on matchday 3, a 1–1 draw against Atlas. He would be the starting goalkeeper for the remainder of the season, only losing his place to Jiménez on matchday 16, after being rested against Club Tijuana. Malagón was also in goal for América's four Leagues Cup matches, as they finished second in the group and were knocked out by Nashville on penalties, with Malagón's winning save getting called back as VAR determined he stepped over the goal line.

Malagón would also be in goal for all of América's six matches in the liguilla, including both legs of the Apertura 2023 final, where América beat Tigres 4–1 on aggregate, to lift their 14th league title, and Malagón's first in his career. Malagón kept a clean sheet in the second leg, making three saves, including a key header from André Pierre Gignac.

Youth
Malagón was called up by Jaime Lozano to participate with the under-23 team at the 2019 Pan American Games, with Mexico winning the third-place match. He also participated at the 2020 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship. In the final group stage match against the United States, Malagón suffered an elbow injury, causing him to miss the rest of the tournament. Mexico went on to win the competition. He was subsequently called up to participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics. Malagón won the bronze medal with the Olympic team.

Senior
In December 2021, Malagón received his first call-up to the senior national team by Gerardo Martino, and made his debut nearly two years later under Diego Cocca on 7 June 2023, in a friendly match against Guatemala. Malagon played in both legs against Honduras helping them qualify for the 2024 Copa America keeping a clean sheet in the second leg and saving a penalty in the penalty shootout.

Honours
América
 * Liga MX: Apertura 2023, Clausura 2024
 * Campeón de Campeones: 2024

Mexico U23
 * Pan American Bronze Medal: 2019
 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship: 2020
 * Olympic Bronze Medal: 2020

Mexico
 * CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2023