Man United regret? Chicharito “one of the best goalscorers in the world”

Javier Hernandez may have left Manchester United last summer but his former teammates still think about him.

[ MORE: U.S. begin WC campaign ]

Fondly.

Current Red Devils goalkeeper David de Gea has been speaking about Chicharito and admitted that he “didn’t know” why Louis van Gaal wanted to get rid of the Mexican international striker.

Hernandez, 27, spent five years at Old Trafford, winning two Premier League titles and scoring 57 goals in 159 appearances which came mostly from the bench. However after van Gaal’s arrival last summer he was loaned out to Real Madrid for the 2014-15 season and then United sold him to Bayer Leverkusen for $12 million this summer.

Since his arrival in the Bundesliga Chicharito has scored 10 goals in 14 games for Leverkusen and De Gea remains baffled as to why he isn’t still at United.

“I don’t know. These are decisions for the coach. But in my team, he would always play. He was an undisputed starter before and player of the year at United,” De Gea told ESPN. “He can get you 20, 30 goals a season. I would like a lot to play with him again, hopefully it can happen... It is difficult for him, for any player, to play little. They were difficult moments, but everyone trusts in him, knows the level he has. He always does something, always scores goals when he gets playing time. He is showing now he is among best goalscorers in the world.”

With reports earlier this week linking Chelsea with a move to bring Chicharito back to the Premier League, it seems like his predatory ability in the box is finally being recognized by some of Europe’s biggest teams.

[ MORE: United to set record revenue levels ]

At United he was the odd man out with Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck or Robin van Persie often preferred as starters but he came up clutch so many times and as we’ve seen for Mexico over the past seven years -- he has 42 goals in 76 games for El Tri -- if you give him a chance nine times out of 10 he will finish it. However, let’s not forget that DDG is a good friend of Chicharito so maybe his opinion is a little skewed...

With United’s fans chanting “attack, attack, attack” from the stands in recent games and LVG’s side struggling to score goals (just 17 in 12 PL games so far this season) maybe he will regret letting the “Little Pea” leave.

Follow @JPW_NBCSports