Monterey Bay FC adds Fidel Barajas on loan from Chivas Guadalajara

Fidel Barajas brought Monterey Bay FC a rare blend of age, production and upside when the club added the Sacramento-born midfielder on loan from Club Deportivo Guadalajara. The 20-year-old right winger and attacking midfielder arrives as a reinforcement for a Monterey Bay side that is heading into a crowded stretch of July and August matches at Cardinale Stadium in Seaside.

Barajas is not a speculative pickup. He won the 2023 USL Championship Young Player of the Year award with Charleston Battery after putting up four goals and nine assists in the regular season, numbers that marked him as one of the league’s cleanest chance creators before he left the circuit. Charleston moved him to Real Salt Lake in January 2024, then Real Salt Lake sent him to Chivas Guadalajara in July 2024 in a transfer MLS later reported carried a fee of more than $4 million and a sell-on clause. MLS later also reported that Chivas loaned him to D.C. United, underscoring how highly clubs have valued his ceiling.

For Monterey Bay, the move is less about a headline and more about solving a real midseason problem. Alex Covelo has already used the loan market this season, bringing in goalkeeper Jacob Jackson from San Diego FC in May and midfielder Belmar Joseph from FC Sion in January. Barajas gives Covelo another wide attacker who can play between the lines, which matters for a club entering the back half of its 2026 schedule with league matches on July 18, July 25, August 1 and August 5. That kind of calendar does not reward patience. It rewards clubs that can add a player who can change a match before the next one arrives.

The fit looks like immediate rotation help with starter upside. Monterey Bay’s roster structure before the move, last updated April 28, already included attacking options such as Mayele Malango and Ilijah Paul, but Barajas brings a different profile, one built on creation rather than just finishing. A player with 2023 end product like that does not need a long runway in USL. If he settles quickly, Monterey Bay gets a live chance creator for the playoff push. If not, the club still has made the kind of upside bet midseason contenders have to make.