Manuel Pellegrini’s career at West Ham United hasn’t began in the manner in which the supporters were hoping it to, and recent reports regarding Marko Arnautovic’s future have added a further weight of concern for the supporters.
Without Arnautovic it’s difficult to comprehend how well West Ham would be doing. Judging by the consistency and quality of his performances at the spearhead of the attack in the past twelve months it’s fair to conclude that the Hammers would be in a precarious position without him, and the thought of his departure is one which is bound to fill the supporters with dread.
But Arnautovic’s transfer from Stoke City was not designed to hand Slaven Bilic the focal point of his attacking unit. Indeed, it was the signing of Javier Hernandez which was made to provide the club with a clinical poacher to gobble up chances on a regular basis, but he has rather faded into insignificance upon his return to English football.
There is no disputing that Hernandez (valued at £10.8 million by Transfermarkt) is lethal inside the penalty area, but with little else to offer in attack he becomes something of a wasted talent when deployed as a lone striker. Hernandez is lacking the physical presence to play as a target man and the pace to terrorise defenders in behind, so he can often become isolated and ineffective.
His struggle at West Ham is indicative of the death of the traditional striker in a rapidly developing game, which demands much more than just goals from forward players. However, with Arnautovic supposedly lining up a move to a top-six club and Pellegrini now in charge, Hernandez could yet transform his career with the club.
The Mexico international has never quite managed to emulate the form he demonstrated in the Bundesliga within the confines of the Premier League, and one of Pelegrini’s biggest individual challenges will concern his ability to resurrect his stuttering career.
And a fine finish against Burnley at the London Stadium along with an exciting performance during a 1-1 draw with Huddersfield last time out hinted that Pellegrini may just have installed a level of confidence into the striker which has been glaringly absent since he signed in 2017.
Hernandez has been written off as a flop by plenty of fans and pundits alike, but Pellegrini could yet to disprove that myth by giving him the confidence to transform a career in east London which has promised so much but delivered so little thus far.
West Ham fans – thoughts? Let us know below!
