Javier Hernandez is set to become the most-expensive player in West Ham’s history with the Mexican international flying in to London for a medical and to agree personal terms.
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“Chicharito” will reportedly be paid over $180,000 per week as the Hammers agreed a deal of $21 million with Bayer Leverkusen last week for Mexico’s all-time leading goalscorer.
With the former Manchester United striker ready for a return to the Premier League, where will Hernandez, 29, slot in at the London Stadium?
Below are a few options below for the Hammers as Hernandez is expected to deliver goals by the bucket load in east London.
Option 1
----- Hart -----
--- Zabaleta --- Fonte --- Reid --- Cresswell ---
---- Obiang ---- Kouyate ----
--- Antonio --- Lanzini --- Arnautovic
----- Hernandez -----
Option 2
----- Hart -----
---- Zabaleta ---- Fonte ---- Reid ----
--- Antonio --- Lanzini --- Kouyate --- Arnautovic ---
---- Hernandez ---- Carroll ---- Ayew ----
Option 3
----- Hart -----
--- Zabaleta --- Fonte --- Reid --- Cresswell ---
----- Kouyate -----
--- Antonio --- Lanzini --- Arnautovic
---- Hernandez ---- Carroll ----
Conclusion
Hernandez is joining West Ham at an exciting time with the Hammers signing Marko Arnautovic last week, plus adding the experience of Joe Hart and Pablo Zabalete in defense. After a year in the London Stadium, the excuse of adapting to a new home is no longer feasible and Slaven Bilic knows his team must hit the ground running.
Chicharito will have no problems adapting to life back in the PL. In truth, he can play in any league in the world. A poacher is a poacher. Period. That said, Hernandez has struggled at times leading the line on his own so Option 1 would be tricky to get the best out of him. So would Option 2 with him drifting off the right flank to latch onto Andy Carroll’s knockdowns along with Andre Ayew, but it could work.
Option 3 seems like the real winner to me. With the running and pace of Antonio and Arnautovic in-behind, plus the trickery of Manuel Lanzini, both Hernandez and Carroll would have chances galore to score and we all know how clinical Chicharito is. Having crosses whipped in and Carroll causing havoc in the penalty box with Chicharito sniffing around for scraps is simplistic but it worked well for West Ham in 2015-16 when they were pushing for the top four.
With Arnautovic, Antonio, Hernandez, Lanzini and Carroll in attack, West Ham could potentially be top-heavy this season but after the struggles of last season, Bilic will rate scoring goals over conceding them. Cheikhou Kouyate, Pedro Obiang or Mark Noble will have plenty of work to get through in the holding midfield role but Antonio and Arnautovic can track back when needed.
Simply put, you buy Hernandez to get finish off crosses and direct balls into the box, especially when you have Carroll around. West Ham needs to set up their team to maximize Hernandez’s abilities and it’s shocking that more PL teams didn’t make a big push for him.