Why West Ham should not let go of Javier Hernandez at any cost
According to a report in ESPN, Turkish giants Besiktas are interested in signing West Ham United striker Javier Hernandez. The Black Eagles are believed to have sent their club officials, including board member Umut Guner, to London for talks with transfer targets, and the Mexican lead man is on the list as well.
The Turkish club are desperate to sign a new striker in the winter window, partly due to the fact that they sold Cenk Tosun to Everton in January and didn’t replace him. They have held talks with Hernandez’s representatives over the possibility of a loan move. (ESPN)
The 30-year-old, who is currently earning £145,000-per-week, hasn’t set the stage alight at the London stadium. However, the Hammers should keep hold of him, at least until the end of the season. Here’s why:
Hernandez’s goal-scoring experience is necessary
It’s true that the Mexican hasn’t scored the number of goals expected of him when he first arrived in east London. He struggled to get into the side under Slaven Bilic and David Moyes last season, and nothing changed under new manager Manuel Pellegrini. As a result, he has scored only 9 goals in 36 appearances.
If we look at it from the other side, Hernandez hasn’t got many starts to stamp his authority on the team. He has had niggling injury issues, which deterred him from being fully fit at all times, especially during the previous campaign.
Furthermore, the Mexican is still a prolific goal-scorer when given scoring chances in the box. He has the experience of netting important goals for Manchester United during their heydays. Hence, January wouldn’t be an ideal time for West Ham to offload him, especially knowing that finding mid-season replacements would be tricky.
Moreover, looking at the Hammers squad, they are short of goal-scorers in their team other than Marko Arnautovic. Andy Carroll gets injured every other week and is not the type of striker Pellegrini would have because of the system he plays.
Michail Antonio can lead the line if required but he is not the one who can be relied upon for goals on a regular basis. And Andriy Yarmolenko is a long-term absentee due to an injury.
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Hence, it is imperative for the east London-based club to keep hold of Hernandez as the Mexican’s experience would be of great help to Pellegrini.