He was called one of the best buys to come out of the 2010 World Cup. Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez was a steal, when Manchester United bought him for about £6 million from Guadalajara, just before making a splash in the tournament.
Chicharito seemingly came out of nowhere, scoring two goals and gaining a man of the match nod for Mexico.
At the conclusion of the 2010/2011 season, Chicharito seemed to have proved most people right. He ended the season with 13 goals in 27 Premier League appearances. He added on an additional four goals in the Champions League to boot to end the season with a tally of 20 goals.
But there was an important factor that may have added to Chicharito’s influence on the season; the absence of Wayne Rooney
As we all remember this was the season where it seemed like Rooney’s future at the club could be in doubt. Rooney didn’t net his first open play goal until January 1st. It left the door open for players such as Chicharito and Dimitar Berbatov for that matter to excel.
However, Rooney came back, Berbatov spent more time on the bench, and it appeared that maybe Chicharito and Rooney didn’t play exceptionally well together and were not the ideal partnership for United up top.
Now, at the conclusion of a somewhat regressing 2011/2012 campaign for Chicharito who struggled with injuries at the start of the season, it’s clear United fans want desperately to see him and Rooney be an unstoppable goal scoring force in Europe.
In the 2011/2012 season, Chicharito went down to 10 goals in 28 games in the Premier League and even worse, he did not score a single goal in United’s (admittedly and unfortunately short) Champions League run.
Now, it cannot be denied that Chicharito is an outstanding player. He is tenacious in front of the goal and has laser point precision inside of the penalty area with the ball at his feet, and in the air.
However, there are flaws that are certainly holding him back. A big problem Chicharito seems to have is to stay onside! Obviously the reasoning behind it is his incredible speed, and his forward thinking to where the next play is going to be.
Many goal-scoring opportunities are lost as the offside flag goes up. I think that the key to getting back on track for Chicharito is going to be for him to keep himself onside. His speed will get him past the defenders in a dead sprint, and he has the skillset to finish off his chances in a one-on-one with a keeper.
My prediction: Chicharito will have a slow start to the season, but at around Boxing Day, he’ll pick up his games and have a strong second half of the season. He’ll end the season with 8 premier league goals although I hope he’ll score much more than that!
By Jennifer Calhoun @Calhouner
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