Fergie: Hernandez sidelined Berbatov
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Why I think United's Little Pea could be the buy of the century
By Jamie Redknapp on 14th April 2011
Easy Peasy: Javier Hernandez scores against Chelsea
Javier Hernandez has scored 18 goals since arriving at Old Trafford in the summer. He cost just £6million.
In an era of £50m strikers, Hernandez is real value for money, a top bit of business by Sir Alex Ferguson. That's why I hailed him as one of the best buys of the century while covering United's Champions League quarter-final win over Chelsea for Sky Sports.
He scores goals and bosses will pay top whack for players who do that. Sir Alex didn't have to.
Hernandez isn't a kid, either. Yes, he's 22, but he's a tried and tested striker with international pedigree. He played at the World Cup where he featured in every game for Mexico and scored twice - against France and Argentina. Signing him was not much of a gamble.
He looks like the sort of player who will go on to be a success for many seasons at Old Trafford because he has a love of the game.
People talk about secondseason syndrome, but his movement has convinced me of his quality. He reminds me of Robbie Fowler but quicker. He plays on the edge, hanging on the shoulder of the last defender. He makes it difficult for opponents and assistant referees - as we saw twice against Chelsea.
I also think Tim Cahill and Gareth Bale have been brilliant buys since 2000. So they're both in my top three.
JAMIE'S TOP THREE
JAVIER HERNANDEZ
£6m Guadalajara to Man Utd, 2010
TIM CAHILL
£1.7m Millwall to Everton, 2004
I love players coming from the lower leagues and making a success of themselves. Just look at Everton when he doesn't play - he is sorely missed.
GARETH BALE
£5m (and rising) Southampton to Spurs, 2007
His potential is boundless. He's a
modern-day athlete, who just gets
better and better. I've seen it
first-hand working in the Champions
League this season: everyone in
Europe is talking about him. -
Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted Javier Hernandez's "startling" impact at Manchester United has ruined Dimitar Berbatov's season.
Berbatov's superior hold up play will likely see him selected in the absence of the suspended Wayne Rooney as a lone striker for Saturday's FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester City at Wembley.
But Berbatov has regularly been condemned to the bench despite the flying start he had to the season which has him leading the Premier League's goal charts, with 22-year-old newcomer Hernandez preferred next to Rooney in Ferguson's two-striker system.
Berbatov has continued to perform when selected, such as when Ferguson hinted at Saturday's tactics by flanking Berbatov with Nani and Antonio Valencia against Fulham a week earlier, but his season has certainly been undermined by Hernandez's increasing involvement, a fact which Ferguson recognised.
"It is unfortunate for Dimitar because he is a fantastic player,'' said Ferguson of Berbatov's present plight. "But the reasons are obvious. The emergence of Hernandez in the last couple of months has been startling. He is improving all the time and is getting stronger. It is very difficult to leave a player out when he hits that kind of form. Every manager and every player in the country has faced that situation in their career when someone emerges to challenge you. It is the horrible part of being a footballer.''
Signed from Guadalajara as a virtual unknown prior to the World Cup, Hernandez scored his 18th goal of the season in Tuesday's Champions League triumph over Chelsea and has earned comparisons from his manager, not only with United hero Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but England striking legend Gary Lineker.
"I really didn't expect Hernandez to have this impact,'' Ferguson said. "As we said to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, we thought his first season would be about integration. Solskjaer played in a few reserves games and scored a hat-trick against Leeds. After that (coach) Jim Ryan came to me and said he is a first-team player. We made him a sub the following week against Blackburn and he scored.
"The only advantage for Hernandez was that he'd played in the World Cup so there was a profile attached to him and he had also come from a much tougher domestic competition.''
Two goals in South Africa had indicated Hernandez was going to prove a bargain at £7 million and when he scored a ridiculous goal on his debut in the Community Shield, where he fired the ball into the Chelsea net by smacking the ball into his own face, Hernandez instantly avoided the growing demand for a goal that proved to be Diego Forlan's undoing at United.
Although Hernandez had added six more before the turn of the year, it was his New Year's Day matchwinner at West Brom that really triggered a transformation. That late effort at the Hawthorns was the first in a run of 11 goals in 17 games, six of which he has started on the substitutes' bench.
"Hernandez is fantastic at taking up positions inside the penalty box,'' Ferguson said. "It is natural. He has the instinct to move around and his timing is terrific. There have only been a few top strikers who have had that quality. Ole was one and Gary Lineker probably never scored a good goal in his life, but he was always in space. He'd get rebounds off goalkeepers and was always in really good areas.''
Hernandez's emergence has definitely answered the very public question marks Rooney raised about United's ability to recruit high-class players during his much-publicised contract stand-off last year.
"I don't think he really meant that,'' laughed Ferguson. "I think he was prompted on that one. He probably thought he could make me angry.''