New club, new country, new time-zone. Same old ‘Chicarito’.
Hours before Manchester United lost their second last senior striker – Wayne Rooney – to injury, Javier Hernandez wins Bundesliga Player of the Month.
The Mexican striker, who was hoofed out of Old Trafford in August, has scored 12 goals in 17 games for Bayer Leverkusen, his new club, since his arrival.
His last two months at Leverkusen have been highly productive – he has scored eight times in his last six games and has four Champions League goals in five appearances.
As a €10.1m (£7.3m) signing from United, Hernandez is proving to be a real bargain.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH@bayer04_en's @CH14_ named November's best pic.twitter.com/NdCg4ecnJx
— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) December 3, 2015
Van Gaal did not fancy the 27-year-old, who scored 59 goals in 157 games at United, from the outset.
He loaned him out to Real Madrid last season and was dismissive when he scored a Champions League quarter final winner against Atletico Madrid. The Dutchman remarked, “When you score a goal – as he has just done for Real Madrid – are you suddenly different? I don’t think so.”
He is not different now. He never has been different. He is a goalscorer and a poacher supreme.
He would probably wilt at Van Gaal’s United but what striker hasn’t?
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