MEXICO CITY -- Pursuing a career at a Mexican club was the culmination of a longtime ambition for Gabriel Farfan. Achieving it after moving from Chivas USA to a struggling Chiapas outfit in February 2014 changed the outlook not just of his playing career, but also his life after soccer.

The former full-back -- who eschewed the luxuries of expensive cars and designer clothes while in Mexico -- lived exclusively off his bonuses in the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez. A dual citizen of Mexico and the U.S., Farfan made "five or six or even more" times what he did in MLS and watched his bank account steadily fill up, even if wage payments at the notoriously troubled Chiapas didn't exactly drop like clockwork each month.

"It would've taken me 15 years to save up the amount I did in Mexico," said Farfan, who returned to the U.S. toward the end of 2015 and hung up his boots in 2017. "For me, it definitely changed my life playing there for a few years."

Both Chiapas and Chivas USA have since disappeared, while Farfan is now embarking on a new career in real estate, but his story puts into sharp focus just how the dynamic in the movement of players between Liga MX and MLS has altered in a short amount of time.

In the past three Liga MX transfer windows, there have been 16 moves from Liga MX to MLS and eight going the other way, turning previous perceptions about transfers between the leagues on their head. The numbers aren't necessarily huge, but the momentum and profile of the players moving has seen it become one of the more important stories of this transfer window in North America.

Alan Pulido (from Chivas to Sporting Kansas City), Oswaldo Alanis (Chivas to San Jose Earthquakes), Lucas Zelarayan (Tigres to Columbus Crew), Edison Flores (Morelia to D.C. United) and Lucas Cavallini (Puebla to Vancouver Whitecaps) have all been signed to MLS clubs this window, while Luciano Acosta (D.C. United to Atlas), Leandro Gonzalez Pirez (Atlanta United to Club Tijuana), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake to Pumas), Uriel Antuna (LA Galaxy to Chivas) and Favio Alvarez (LA Galaxy to Pumas) headed south to Liga MX.

Every single one speaks Spanish, all are from the Americas and are in, or approaching, their prime. So what sparked the increase in player movement?

'The league is improving ... the quality of life is better'

Pulido is a household name in Mexico.

The soft-spoken 28-year-old's career has seen him touted as the next big Mexican talent ahead of the 2014 World Cup, engage in a high-profile contract dispute with Tigres, play in Europe, escape from a kidnapping in his home state of Tamaulipas and become an integral part of a historic period for all-Mexican club Chivas under now-San Jose Earthquakes manager Matias Almeyda. Recently married, Pulido lived a comfortable life in Guadalajara and was a popular member of the Chivas squad, but he found himself in need of a fresh start when Sporting Kansas City came calling. At the forefront of the discussions with his wife was their perception of a better quality of life in the United States.

"I spoke to [my wife] and starting a family is something that is really important for us both, and that also influenced this decision to come here," he told ESPN.

Pulido's arrival in the cold Kansas City winter may have been a world away from Guadalajara's warm, spring-like climate, but he didn't take much convincing after seeing the facilities at the club, as well as the seriousness of Peter Vermes' project with him leading the attack.

"Many top-level European clubs don't have the facilities, the technology, the infrastructure that they have here. It made me happy to see it," Pulido said.

A better quality of life played a big role in Alan Pulido's decision to leave Chivas for Sporting Kansas City. Sporting Kansas City

The increasing number of Mexicans coming into MLS to play when they are still in their prime has also had a kind of snowball effect with other players.

"I didn't speak to any [Mexican] players [before making the decision]," Pulido said. "It's more through what I've heard, what players here like Jonathan [dos Santos] and [Carlos] Vela have said, Antuna. MLS has grown a lot. A lot of players from Liga MX are coming up here because the league is improving and then add in that the quality of life is better in all aspects, that makes players want to come more and more to this league."

For 26-year-old attacking midfielder Zelarayan, the choice to move to Columbus was influenced by the chance to become a central figure in their bid to compete at the top of MLS, instead of continuing in a supporting role at Tigres.

"I was in a really nice club, a big club [at Tigres]," the Argentine told ESPN. "I had a lot of friends, but I didn't play as much as I hoped, I didn't get that many minutes and I decided to change to a club with a nice project that wants to be important in the league."

LA Galaxy midfielder Joe Corona played for Tijuana, Club America and Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico before settling back in his native Los Angeles last year. He said that he gets called "all the time" from players he played with or against in Mexico telling him to "take me to MLS," and thinks that quality of life and the improving level of play in the league is behind the interest.

Spaniard Victor Vazquez, who moved from Cruz Azul to Toronto FC in 2016, didn't hold back when he told Mundo Deportivo in 2017 that Mexico "wasn't the right place to watch by son grow up."

It's a lot easier to scout

For MLS clubs, looking to Mexico for talent is now considered a no-brainer.

"The adaptation aspect, the way they acclimate is really not that difficult because they are already in the region playing in CONCACAF, playing in difficult environments, climate, altitude, all those things. ... And then there's also travel that goes along with it," Vermes explained to ESPN.

European players can sometimes struggle with such issues. Columbus Crew president Tim Bezbatchenko agrees with the compatibility of Liga MX players to MLS and the fact that the Hispanic population in many of MLS cities -- as well as inside the clubs themselves -- can make settling easier. The profile of Liga MX players coming from the most popular league in the U.S. in terms of television viewership also doesn't do any harm for marketing purposes, especially in areas with a large Hispanic population.

Clearly, the most important aspect is their fit on the field. One of the most difficult tasks in international scouting is translating a player's qualities from one team and league and projecting how they would fit into your coach's ideas in a new league. But the geographic accessibility of Liga MX and increased play between the two leagues through Leagues Cup and CONCACAF Champions League allows clubs to scout players facing their domestic rivals, or even directly against them, with ease.

"The fact our leagues are playing each other in real competition, you get to evaluate and compare the talent like for like, on the same pitch at the same time, which is something that you don't get to do in other countries in South America," Bezbatchenko said.

The financial reality

Quality of life, proximity and an improving on-field product are important, but wages have arguably the most profound influence over player movement in world soccer. Players generally move where they can get the most money. The likes of Pulido, Flores and Zelarayan are unlikely to have swapped leagues for a pay cut. The reality is that the vast majority of transfers north from Liga MX have been on designated player (DP) contracts, while the increase in targeted allocation money (TAM) was key in bringing in Corona, Alanis, Carlos Fierro (Cruz Azul to San Jose Earthquakes) and Felipe Mora (Pumas to Portland Timbers).

"I don't think it's a coincidence that TAM [increased] in 2018 and now you've seen an uptick in clubs' activity in the market," said Dimitrios Efstathiou, senior vice president of MLS player relations and competition. But overall, Liga MX still has superior spending power at the midtier level of the roster.