Mexican police have arrested a man linked to the January shooting of star Paraguayan football player Salvador Cabanas, the office of Public Security (SSP) said on Wednesday.

Cabanas, who at the time he was playing for a Mexican team, America, was the captain of Paraguay's World Cup team and its star forward.

Cabanas, 29, was shot in the head after an argument at a bar in Mexico City on January 25. He is currently in Buenos Aires recovering from the head wound.

Mexican authorities announced the arrest of Francisco Jose Barreto, identified as one of the shooter's accomplices.

Barreto, also known as "The Accountant," is "an alleged drug distributor" in the Mexican City suburbs and "the only witness" to the shooting, said SSP anti-drug commander Eduardo Ramon Pequeno at a press conference.

The alleged shooter is Jose Jorge Balderas Garza, who according to Barreto heads a group that works for a drug cartel headed by Edgar Valdes Villareal, alias "La Barbie," Pequeno told reporters.

After two months at a Mexico City hospital, Cabanas was flown to a hospital in Buenos Aires.

In April, doctors said that Cabanas, nicknamed the "Marshal," showed 95 percent physical recovery.

In the bar room argument Balderas allegedly chastised Cabanas for not scoring more goals, and the star player reacted "aggressively," Pequeno said.

Balderas and Barreto then followed Cabanas to the bathroom and shot him in the head, Pequeno said.

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