The Tragedy of Javier Hernandez

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is a Mexican soccer player currently on loan from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

Chicharito at Real Madrid

Over the past few years Chicharito has struggled to gain the attention of managers of the clubs that he’s played on. During his tenure at Real Madrid he has only had the chance to play 848 minutes and was often overlooked in favor of Ronaldo, Benzema, and Bale and will not be signed permanently by Real Madrid at the end of his loan period. In retrospect, the loan did not make much sense for Real Madrid as they already have a plethora of players who can play at the top and do not need another. On Manchester United Hernandez showed excellent form his first season, scoring an incredible number of goals and proving himself to be a great buy. However after this season, Hernandez didn’t reproduce this performance and was quickly benched by Louis van Gaal, a situation that he never quite seemed to recover from.

With his loan to Madrid expiring at the end of the 2014/2015 season and his Manchester United contract ending in 2016, Chicharito has an opportunity to think about what his next move will be. It seems that the most obvious option would be to return to the premier league where he seems to be at his best. However Louis van Gaal does not seem keen on Hernandez, as he has been used as a super sub for the last several years, and if Hernandez were to go back to Manchester United he may have to contend with the fact that he would not, in what should be the prime of his career, be a starter. On that note, it has been rumored that Manchester United has been looking to sell the striker to Southampton in a deal involving Nathaniel Clyne who has been actively pursued by Manchester United. In my opinion this could be a great move for Chicharito who may be better appreciated by Southampton and could get the playing time that he has been looking for.

The tragedy in all of this is that Hernandez is a brilliant player whose career has been cut short by a lack of playing time. Perhaps the root of this problem is that the teams Hernandez has played for the last couple of years (Manchester United and Real Madrid) are teams with deep pockets and no worries when it comes to signing big name players. Consequently Hernandez has simply been overshadowed by his peers on these teams and has, as a result never been given the chance to show his true worth. Hernandez still has a chance to shine in European soccer, he simply needs to be given a chance at a club that will appreciate his talent.