Profile
Javier Hernández was already Mexico’s record goalscorer when he agreed to leave Sevilla and La Liga for Los Angeles Galaxy and Major League Soccer. Moving for a fee of €8.5m and agreeing a reported salary of $6m that makes him MLS’ highest paid figure – he is also earning more than Zlatan Ibrahimovic was until his departure in December 2019 – he signed a three-year contract to potentially leave European football behind him forever.
For all of his ability, suggestions persist that he has never fulfilled the potential he demonstrated when forming so promising a strike partnership with Wayne Rooney at Manchester United on their way to the 2011 Champions League final, later tempting Real Madrid to sign him on loan. He rarely performed to his best while at West Ham, prior to joining Sevilla, and 2016/17, spent at Bayer Leverkusen, represented the last season at which a once prolific goalscorer recorded more than 10 league goals. “I’m going to be playing,” Hernández said when joining the Galaxy. “That’s what I want in my life. People are going to say it was because I couldn’t make it (in Europe), but sometimes in football there are things that are not in your hands.”