Javier Hernandez is living the dream

Posted Saturday, August 06, 2011 by ESPN

Javier Hernandez is living the dream
Javier Hernandez had an amazing EPL rookie season, but Chicharito -- who is recovering from a concussion sustained in preseason training -- will face bigger expectations this season.

The first thing you should know about the "Little Pea" is that he really isn't all that little. Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez, nicknamed "Chicharito" in Spanish, stands 5-foot-9, a very respectable height in soccer. And when he walks into a room, his immaculate posture makes him look taller still. His name refers not to his stature but to his father, Javier "Chicharo" Hernandez, a longtime Mexican league and Mexican national team midfielder, who, at 5-foot-6, went by "The Pea."

The second thing you should know about Chicharito is that he's more the exception than the rule. In July of last year, Hernandez made his debut for Manchester United. A deal for a modest $8 million had been arranged with Mexican powerhouse Chivas Guadalajara in April 2010. He joined a dynastic club as a young player coming off a good World Cup and a strong season at Chivas, where he scored 21 league goals. Perhaps more importantly, he was from Central America, which, like South America, traditionally produces players, especially forwards, who tend to be ill-suited for the English Premier League. Most of the South and Central Americans who have had good years in the Prem, and they are few, had spent time in other European leagues first. Diego Forlan, a Uruguayan striker, went directly from Independiente to United in 2001 and was a bust. Carlos Tevez, an Argentinian forward, joined West Ham from Corinthians in 2006 and had a troubled first year, even if it concluded with him scoring a relegation-averting goal.

Of course, Luis Suarez has had an impact at Liverpool upon arriving back in January, but the Uruguayan was at Ajax first, from 2007-2011.

Then there's Chicharito. Before the 2010 World Cup, he was known to few outside of Mexico. At 22, he was considered to be a long-term project at United with an outside chance of sticking around, much like the dozens of other fringe prospects United manager Alex Ferguson has gobbled up for minor fees over the years. But Hernandez didn't slink from a stage that was too big for him. Rather, he pushed aside established players and became the club's most dangerous forward, so commandingly leading the line that he edged Dimitar Berbatov -- who would finish the year with a joint league-leading 21 goals -- out of the starting lineup. Now Berbatov is linked with a move to French side PSG.

Improbably, Hernandez scored 20 goals throughout the season, 13 of them coming in the rough-and-tumble Premier League. (As a reference, even Tevez, now the league's best striker, scored just seven goals in his debut campaign.) What's more, of the 18 goals Hernandez scored between the EPL, Champions League and the FA Cup, eight were game-winning goals, one tied a game and three were go-ahead goals.

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