da spicy bet： When Javier Hernandez returns to Old Trafford this Sunday, the Mexico international will feel he has every right to still be there, wearing Manchester United’s famous red jersey.
da marjack bet： That’s not to suggest the prominent poacher is in any way disloyal to his new employers West Ham, the club that have brought him back to the Premier League after two free-firing seasons in Germany, but deep down, Chicharito will know his United tenure could and probably should have panned out very differently.
Looking back on the closing stages of his United career, it’s hard to tell what Hernandez actually did to deserve being sold by a club he served so well despite ever-modest game-time for a goalscorer of his calibre.
Had it not been for a few kneejerk decisions from certain managers, predominantly Louis van Gaal, Hernandez can rightly assume he would have at worst become United’s modern answer to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and at best the eventual heir to Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie as the club’s most dependable goalscorer.
From the off, Hernandez was a favourite of Sir Alex Ferguson’s. Plucked from the relative anonymity of Mexican football, it took just one season at Old Trafford for Hernandez to earn a starting berth in the Champions League final, following a run of 20 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions.
His two other campaigns under the Scot were equally fruitful; despite predominantly starting from the bench, Hernandez bagged 40 goals in three seasons with Fergie at the helm. He was Ferguson’s go-to weapon from the bench and seemingly being groomed towards an eventual starring role.
But then came Ferguson’s retirement after lifting the title in 2013, a triumph the 29-year-old contributed ten goals in 22 Premier League appearances to. The following season under David Moyes was a complete disaster all-round but even so, Hernandez managed to find nine goals in all competitions despite only making twelve starts – the fourth-most of any United player that year.
For whatever reason, that appeared to create doubts over Hernandez’s ability at top level and when Louis van Gaal arrived in summer 2014, the 96-cap international was one of the biggest casualties, loaned out to Real Madrid for the subsequent season. Upon his return, Hernandez was given just three chances to prove himself, equating to a grand total of 67 minutes.
Then came the moment that sealed his fate; a missed penalty on a slippery surface against Celta Vigo that inspired an infamous glance from LVG to Ryan Giggs. Five days later, he was sold to Bayer Leverkusen for just £7.3million.
None other than Jose Mourinho himself has since criticised the club’s decision to sell, telling reporters in March this year that he would never have allowed Danny Welebck, Hernandez and Angel Di Maria to leave the club – even more incredibly, the latter two during the same transfer window. That kind of endorsement, especially from a manager so closely aligned to van Gaal, would have been music to Hernandez’s ears, and his form for Bayer Leverkusen during the intermittent period more than justified it.
“I found a sad club [here]. Man Utd sold players that I would never sell, bought players that I would never buy. I would never sell Di Maria, Chicharito [Hernandez], Danny Welbeck. Never. No chance.”
Far from being simply a super-sub, Hernandez bagged 39 goals and nine assists in 76 appearances for the German outfit from a regular starting berth – a rich vein of form that saw his first six months in the Bundesliga end with the Bundesliga Idol award and his first season end with a place in the Team of the Year, while accumulating five Player of the Month awards out of a possible 16. That’s some monopolisation, especially during a time in which Bayern Munich were head and shoulders above the rest of the league – even by their usual standards.
Ironically, this potent form came during a period in which United’s goalscoring hopes hinged on a rapidly declining Wayne Rooney and teenager Marcus Rashford, followed by an ageing Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed on a free transfer. United finished both seasons as the lowest goalscorers in the Premier League’s top seven – in fact, Hernandez’s single-handed Bundesliga tally during that time, 28 goals, equated to 30% of how many the Red Devils managed in the Premier League as an entire team.
That’s not to say Hernandez doesn’t have his drawbacks. A lethal goalscorer certainly, but a somewhat limited player nonetheless. During his two seasons in the Bundesliga, Hernandez averages less than one created chance and one successful dribble per match, whilst his best return for aerial duels won was just 1.12 per match. That doesn’t fit the ‘multipurpose’ player template LVG always craved and in terms of physicality, he doesn’t match the powerful No.9 template Mourinho has depended on for his entire career either. There’s an inevitable question of how significant a role Hernandez would have played in the plans of either manager had he remained at Old Trafford over the last two years.
But goalscorers of Hernandez’s consistency are always worth their weight in gold which is why, for a fee of just £16million, West Ham have landed themselves one of the signings of the summer. The Mexican should stop the incredible tide of striker signings failing to deliver for the East Londoners, a stretch under David Sullivan and David Gold that has spanned a whopping 33 front-men, only two of which – Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho – have gone on to score more than 20 goals.
Hernandez’s first outing for the Hammers provides a poignant subplot, the chance for Hernandez to say the goodbye to the Manchester United fans that Louis van Gaal never allowed him and the chance to prove to the club that once disposed of him so ruthlessly that they were wrong to do so. While West Ham fans hope that will be one of the beautiful game’s many fateful fairy tales that becomes reality with seeming inevitability, a goal at Old Trafford this Sunday will undoubtedly make Manchester United supporters, Hernandez and even Mourinho wonder what could have been.