Manchester United fan favourite Javier Hernandez has completed an emotional transfer back to his hometown club Chivas, where his professional career began.
It was confirmed today that Chicharito is returning to Guadalajara as a free agent after recovering from a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury with MLS side LA Galaxy last June.
The transfer represents a homecoming to Mexican football for the ‘Little Pea’, who graduated from the Chivas youth set-up and hails from a proud sporting family; both his grandfather and father represented their beloved country at World Cups in 1954 and 1986, respectively.
Memorably, Chicharito agreed to a shock transfer from Chivas to United on 8 April 2010, in a deal that was announced the day after our dramatic Champions League exit to Bayern Munich.
As part of the agreement, United played a friendly to open the new Chivas stadium that July and Hernandez played for both sides. He scored the first goal inside the ground and received a hero’s ovation from a fanbase that wished him well.
Chicha was not a big name when he arrived at Old Trafford, of course, but he became a cult hero among our supporters thanks to his predatory finishing and obvious passion for the badge.
Javier scored 59 goals as a Red, won two Premier League titles, started the 2011 Champions League final and, significantly, netted the last strike of the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
As he explained during his episode of our UTD Podcast series, his Reds career will always be special to him.
“Manchester United is always going to be my team. I’m very grateful for Real Madrid, Sevilla, Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham, all of them. I still love them and I’m going to be grateful forever but honestly, I feel it that you’re once a Red, always a Red.
“What I experienced, what I lived, I can say that I was the only Mexican under Sir Alex Ferguson, I scored the last goal under him, I am the only Mexican who has won the Premier League so far.
“I hope more Mexican players can be in a United shirt, I will love it. But I am the only Mexican who has won the Premier League and then twice and it was the 19th and 20th titles.”
Everybody at United wishes Chicha well for the future – you are always welcome back at Old Trafford.