Javier Hernández

You may have heard that Javier Hernández, popularly known as “Chicharito” (from “chícharo” that means “pea”), is one of the best forwards in history of Mexican football. This talented soccer player was born in Mexico, in 1988 and has been playing at the junior club level since he was a kid. He got the funny nickname from his father, Javier Hernández Gutiérrez, who was nicknamed "Chícharo", due to his bright green eyes.

When he turned 9, he signed with the ‘C.D. Guadalajara’'s junior level, and his senior debut was in 2006 in the ‘Torneo Apertura’, league championship of the First Division of Mexican soccer. He scored a goal and helped the team win the ‘Liga MX’ title. But the magic came in 2009, when Javier Hernández scored 11 scores during the ‘Torneo Apertura’, and became the third scorer of the tournament. That year, his team won the ‘Interliga’, which was a qualifying tournament for the ‘Copa Libertadores’ played by Mexican teams, held from 2004 to 2010.

Time to conquer Europe

Javier Hernández became a top scorer in his native country and was spotted by many European clubs. In 2010, ‘Manchester United’ signed him for five years, becoming the first-ever Mexican player to be selected for one of the leading ‘Premier League’), teams. His first goal for the English club came during the preseason, in a match against the ‘Chelsea F.C.’. The talented player leaded the team to win the ‘Community Shield’, which is an annual trophy played in England for the benefit of various English charities. 

During his time with ‘Manchester United’, he had one of the best minutes-to-goal ratios in the history of the ‘Premier League’. After many successful years, he had a poor performance during the fourth season with the English Club and was loaned to the Spanish ‘Real Madrid’, and he finally was offered a contract by the club ‘Bayer Leverkusen' from the ‘Bundesliga’ (the competition between Germany's top-tier soccer teams). His first season with the club was great: he earned the “Bundesliga Player of the Month" title.

After an average performance during the 2016/17 season, Javier Hernández was let go by the Bundesliga team and was offered a contract by ‘Premier League’ club, ‘West Ham United’ where he played for a few years, until he signed with USA Major League Soccer team, ‘L.A. Galaxy’ in 2020, where he is giving a great performance.

In addition to being an international player, Hernández has become the highest international-goal-scoring Mexican player of all time with Mexico's National Team. His debut came in the 2010 'FIFA World Cup,' and he has played in every World Cup ever since.

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