Javier Hernandez is living the dream

Posted Saturday, August 06, 2011 by ESPN

Chicharito also helped lead Mexico to the Gold Cup title this summer, before sustaining a concussion during a preseason training session. Although Ferguson said the player could miss about a month's worth of action, it remains to be seen if Hernandez will be fit in time for the start of the season on Aug. 13. Once he does return, the challenge for Chicharito will be living up to greater expectations. Last season, he was the league's breakout player; this time around, supporters will look toward the poacher to lead United's front line.

So how did Hernandez become an almost overnight sensation? How did he bridge the enormous discrepancy in playing style, physicality, playing level and lifestyle between Mexico and Manchester so very quickly?

Ask Chicharito yourself -- if you get the chance, given that a preposterous 800 interview requests rolled in for him during his week or so with United on tour in North America. He'll gaze at you with his honest, brown eyes, sitting below a tame J.Crew-catalogue haircut. "I think one of the keys is, first of all, Sir Alex, my boss, and also my teammates because they help me a lot to feel loved, like I am really home," he said at a press conference days before the MLS All-Star game against United. "I'm very happy and enjoying myself a lot to be part of Man U and all the extra things. To be part of this team is wonderful."

Sir Alex, his boss, was more helpful. Sort of. "It's one of the questions we keep asking ourselves," he told ESPN.com before United's tour-opening friendly with the New England Revolution. "We're quite amazed at the transition from playing in Mexico as a young lad, not fully matured, and really just starting his career to coming to our place. And, of course, at the beginning, it was like any other player going to a different country; he had to improve his language -- his English was very good, but he's improved it tremendously -- and also be a part of a more physical, stronger game. But when we saw his training performances and his attitude to training and his enthusiasm for training, we thought, 'Hmm, he's got a chance.' So bit by bit, he proved himself, really. It got to a point where I had to play him all the time. And that's a measure of the progress he made. Quite incredible that for his first season in the English game he scored the goals he did. And also the performance level he gave us."

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