Cruz Azul midfielder Erik Lira kept his word of not complicating the negotiations for his contract renewal with the Maquina Celeste and this Friday confirmed his continuity in the cement organization for the next four years with the condition that if there is a European offer to be able to analyze it.

Lira was one of the objectives of the cement team to maintain the player base since Martin Anselmi and Ivan Alonso arrived at the Cruz Azul team three tournaments ago, so the board bet as one of its objectives, to close the signing of the cement midfielder, when the player could have chosen to leave the sky-blue organization for free.

With three years in the Noria team, Lira has come from less to more and has become one of the key players in Cruz Azul to the point that he has consolidated himself in the Mexican national team and it would not be strange if he appears on the final list of 26 called up for the 2026 World Cup, next year to be held in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The midfielder emerged in the youth teams of the Pumas and later formed part of Necaxa, to return to the feline squad and from there move to Cruz Azul, where he played 162 of the 224 matches in his career as a First Division player he has found his niche of opportunity in the team of La Noria, which is why he is currently one of the key players in the project of the Argentine coach Nicolas Larcamon as he was with Martin Anselmi and Vicente Sanchez.

The position that Martin Anselmi found for him

After having an unstable performance with Cruz Azul under the orders of the Peruvian coach Juan Reynoso, then Raul Gutierrez, Ricardo Ferretti, Joaquin Moreno, Martin Anselmi, Vicente Sanchez and now Nicolas Larcamon, but his breaking point was with Anselmi who found the ideal position for him.

Having no place as a holding midfielder under the command of Anselmi,The Argentine coach gave him an opportunity as a third advanced center back in a kind of sweeper and with that came his consolidation and the sum of all his footballing skills in favor of Cruz Azul's interests.

Precisely in that position, he arrived with great force to the Mexican national team, where his presence has become customary after being called up for the first time in October 2021 in the 3-0 defeat to Ecuador.

So far, Lira has a title with Cruz Azul, such as the Liga Super Cup in 2022, as well as internationally the Concacaf Nations League with the Mexican national team in 2025 and the Concacaf Champions Cup with the cement team under the orders of Vicente Sanchez.

The midfielder born in the Cuauhtemoc municipality of Mexico City, has worn the shirts of Necaxa from 2018 to 2019, of the Pumas from 2020 to 2021 and with Cruz Azul from 2022 to the present.