MIGUEL IBARRA's LONG, STRANGE TRIP is taking another turn that a year ago seemed improbable. 

The second-division star for the NASL’s Minnesota United, who began earning regular U.S. national team call-ups last fall, has completed a move to Club Leon of Liga MX, the Mexican top flight, American Soccer Now has learned.

“It’s a done deal,” according to a club source not authorized to speak on the record.

News of Leon’s interest in Ibarra was first reported by ESPN.com. The club claimed the Liga MX rights to Ibarra in yesterday’s draft for transfer-listed players. A pair of sources confirmed a report by the blog Northern Pitch, which covers Minnesota United, that Ibarra’s transfer fee is “about a million” dollars.

Ibarra, 25, was unknown to most soccer fans outside Minnesota before last season. Cut by the Portland Timbers after being drafted in the fourth round (67th overall) in 2012, Ibarra caught on in Minnesota and quietly went about honing his craft.

His first two seasons brought modest success before blowing up last season. Playing as a hybrid attacking midfielder and forward who was given free reign by United coach Manny Lagos to roam the field, Ibarra had nine goals and five assists last season, en route to winning the league’s Golden Ball, its MVP award.

This season he has two goals and two assists in eight games.

Ibarra’s 2014 season caught the eye of United States national team coach Jurgen Klinsman, who raised eyebrows when he made Ibarra the first player from an American lower division called up (sans a labor stoppage) since the start of MLS in 1996.

Playing mostly as a wide player to take advantage of his pace and ability to dribble at players, Ibarra debuted for the U.S. last October against Honduras, earned his first start in February’s win over Panama and earned his third and most recent cap when he came off the bench in April in a 2-0 win over Mexico.

Now he’ll be playing with and against many of those some players he was on the field with against Mexico, including U.S. goalkeeper William Yarborough, who plays for Club Leon.

Two seasons ago Leon swept the Liga MX titles, winning the 2013 apertura and 2014 clausara  titles. But last year the club struggled, finishing 10th in the fall and stumbling to 17th in the 18-team league this spring.

In part because of these poor showings the club is looking to make changes and there will be a chance for Ibarra to earn immediate playing time. It’s a far cry from his humble roots in Lancaster, Calif., a small town on the edge of the Mojave Desert that saw him frequently overlooked by bigger youth clubs and top college programs.

The son of Mexican immigrants (which means he won’t count as a foreign player in Liga MX), Ibarra did not get any Division One scholarship offers and began his college career at Taft Junior College. After two strong seasons there, he transferred to UC Irvine, where he was the Big West’s co-offensive player of the year as a senior. Despite his two strong seasons at Irvine, he fell in the draft and then was released by Portland.

Several MLS teams expressed interested in Ibarra but he was inked to a long-term deal with Minnesota and United wasn’t going to let a player of Ibarra’s talent go without a substantial, at least by NASL standards, transfer fee. That was something the MLS front office, which is loath to reward the lower divisions for finding and developing players, was unlikely to approve.

Of course, United is itself MLS bound, with the league announcing earlier this year that Minnesota would begin play in MLS in either 2017 or 2018. Ibarra told ASN in April he hoped to be part of Minnesota’s MLS entry. But with a shot at the national team, he needs to consistently play at a higher level to have a better chance to become a U.S. regular, something he’ll definitely get if he earns minutes in Leon.