Javier Hernandez: Manchester’s Little Pea

By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London

In April, when Manchester United announced the £7m signing of Javier Hernandez from Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara, few people batted an eyelid. In fact, the more cynical side of me thought it might have been another of United’s not-so-subtle ploys to garner some more international ‘fans’ (shirt-buyers). Does anyone remember Dong-Fangzhuo, the Chinese striker who made the United first XI on the princely number of one occasion? He was shipped out to Belgium to play for United’s feeder club Royal Antwerp for two seasons as he was unable to attain a work permit to play in the UK. When he returned to England he was part of the United squad for one season before Ferguson decided he wasn’t good enough and sold him back to Chinese side Dalian Shide.

Worse still, I feared that United may have signed another Zoran Tosic – a talented young player with a hefty price tag who for reasons unknown outside the Manchester United management was never given a sustained chance to prove his worth at the highest level. He always looked a class act to my eyes, but was sold to CSKA Moscow in June of this year for an undisclosed fee, after making just two appearances for the first team. It’s a cut throat world at Manchester United, and the opening signs for the little-known (at least on these shores) Mexican striker from Guadalajara were not too promising.

However, on reading news of the signing in my daily early-morning scouring of the BBC football gossip column before work, a faint wisp of optimism was stirring inside me – fuelled by the hope that United might have signed someone to replace or at least temporarily oust the eternally disappointing Dimitar Berbatov. I copied and pasted his name into Google and set upon watching a few videos of him before rushing off to the day job. I was pleasantly surprised.

Before me was a player fleet of foot, with a deft touch, good in the air, and with an eye for goal. He looked to be the complete package. I was impressed, whilst remembering that those youtube compilations can make almost any professional football player look like the real deal. I wonder if Michael Owen’s agent put any video links in his promotional brochure? Just to illustrate my point, take a look atthis video of Dong Fangzhuo from his Antwerp days – looks pretty good, eh?

The problem with those videos is that they cut out all the mistakes, missed passes and fluffed shots (unless it’s a video about Titus Bramble, in which case that’s all they consist of). I could make a compilation of Berbatov’s last season for United which made him look like a footballing God. Unfortunately, I could also construct one which makes him look like an absolute muppet and lasts about three times as long. So, bearing that in mind, my optimism about Hernandez was kept firmly on the ground.

I kept a special eye out for the man they call Chicharito (meaning ‘little-pea’ in Spanish, on account of his green eyes inherited from his father, who was also a professional footballer) at this Summer’s World Cup. I wanted to be impressed by him, and the young striker didn’t let me down. He showed good control and great awareness of the game and those around him. His eyes are constantly darting around, looking for the next pass or that little gap of space to run into. There is electricity to his play that is exciting to watch. His finest moment came against Argentina in the last-16 when he scored a great goal. A fine first touch took him into space in the penalty area, a second put it onto his left foot, and with the third he belted it into the top corner.

Hernandez has also been in impressive form for Manchester United in their pre-season tour to the States. He played the first half of the Chivas game for his old team and scored a brilliant goal in the 8^th minute, latching onto a lay-off and firing in with his right foot from outside the area on the half-volley. A player with two great feet is very hard to find. On his full debut as a Manchester United player against an MLS All Star team, he capped a solid performance with another great goal, this time a fine looping effort over the ‘keeper.

He certainly seems to be a huge hit with Mexican fans. When he arrived in Houston for an autograph session he was greeted by a thousand waiting fans. Perhaps even more impressive was the surge of 50,000 new Manchester United website subscribers from Mexico who signed up in the 24 hours following the announcement of his signing in April. His massive popularity suggests that he must be something special, and his fine pre-season form suggests that he could be quite a hit in the Premier League this season.

However, whether he gets his chance to shine this season is down to the wise old Scotsman at the helm of the Glazer Empire. When asked whether Chicharito was ready for instant introduction to the first team, Ferguson replied “Absolutely”. Berbatov will be quaking in his boots.