Chicharito offers to play for Man Utd for free
FT Desk
- 10 Aug 2022 06:14 CDT
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo wants out; fans and players alike don't want Marko Arnautovic. Could Javier Hernandez be a solution for Manchester United?
United have a crisis in attack. Ronaldo, who scored 18 Premier League goals last season, wants out, and was only fit enough for the bench in the Red Devils' season-opening 2-1 defeat to Brighton.
Edinson Cavani has left on a free; Anthony Martial glistened in pre-season but has picked up a hamstring injury; while Marcus Rashford missed two gilt-edged opportunities against the Seagulls.
Chicharito previously scored 59 goals in 157 games with United, winning Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2011 and 2013, and, at 34, apparently fancies himself as an outside bet to solve their attacking woes.
🗯 "Chicharito: born to score goals!" ❤️
🇲🇽 @CH14_#MUFC pic.twitter.com/iQZzO2vRpU— Manchester United (@ManUtd) June 1, 2022
"If United came for me then I'd say 'yes, I'll play for free,'" Hernandez is quoted as saying in the Daily Mirror. "Of course, you know, I'd do that."
Chicharito left United for Real Madrid in 2014 and now plies his trade with LA Galaxy, via spells at Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham and Sevilla.
On the cusp of more titles
Hernandez has helped fire the Galaxy to the top of the MLS Western Conference standings with nine goals in 22 games, and he insists he remains loyal to his current employers despite his United soft spot.
"But I also want to be very respectful to my club," he said. "I'm playing very consistently and in my mind my conviction is all about winning a championship with LA Galaxy.
"In the future, if things happen then they happen - but in my mind I am 100 percent with LA."
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Hernandez wouldn't be the first 30+ striker United have signed in recent seasons, with Ronaldo, Cavani, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Odion Ighalo among those enjoying various degrees of success at Old Trafford.
"One of [Ferguson's] greatest aptitudes, in my humble opinion, was that probably seven out of 10 players who signed for United worked out," Hernandez added.
What the Red Devils wouldn't give for a similar hit-rate today.
