Is “Chicharito” heading back to the Premier League?
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Mexico’s all-time leading goalscorer is reportedly attracting interest from West Ham United, with the El Tri star having a $16.8 million release clause in his contract.
Sky Sports in the UK reported on Monday that West Ham are in talks with Bayer Leverkusen and ProSoccerTalk understands that there is strong interest in Hernandez from the Hammers.
Chicharito’s contract has just 12 months remaining and this season is a big one for him ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia with El Tri all but qualified for the tournament.
After scoring once and impressing in Mexico’s fourth-place finish at the 2017 Confederations Cup, the Bayer Leverkusen forward is still highly thought of in England after winning two Premier League titles with Manchester United during his five years at Old Trafford.
At 29 years of age, Hernandez is smack bang in his prime and even if West Ham don’t sign the predatory forward, surely other PL clubs will be intrigued by the news of a fairly cheap release clause.
Hernandez is a streaky forward but he’s managed to score 28 goals in 54 Bundesliga games over the past two seasons, with 39 goals in 76 games in all competitions. Not too shabby.
With Leverkusen coming off a disappointing season as they finished 12th in the Bundesliga -- former boss Roger Schmidt lost his job in March and now Heiko Herrlich is in charge -- despite reaching the Round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League, perhaps this is a good time for Chicharito to move on.
West Ham certainly need one thing Hernandez can provide: goals.
Slaven Bilic’s side struggled mightily to an 11th place finish in the PL last season and without regular striker Andy Carroll for most of the campaign due to injury, they scored just 47 goals in 38 games.
With talented wide-men at the London Stadium in Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and Manuel Lanzini pulling the strings, you would expect plenty of quality deliveries for Carroll and Hernandez to feed off. That old-fashioned little and large partnership could prove fruitful for the Hammers and Hernandez would be a regular starter as they look to push once again for a spot in Europe as they settle at their impressive new home in east London.
This move would be a good fit all around, it would seem.
