West Ham legend and World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst believes Javier Hernandez is the man to take the Hammers to the next level ahead of the club’s Premier League opener on Sunday.
Slaven Bilic’s side face Manchester United at Old Trafford in what will a tough first game for the Croatian’s new look side, and £16 million signing Hernandez is expected to make his full debut in Claret and Blue against his former employers.
Hurst, who scored 248 goals in his Irons career, backs Chicharito to do the business this season ahead of the clash.
“West Ham have made good signings in my opinion,” Hurst said at the 2017 FA & McDonald’s Community Awards. “Hernandez is absolutely the right kind of striker for them. He’s got pace and if you have that you can always cause problems – 15 to 20 goals has got to be his goal this season.
“Any less than that and he should be disappointed. He’s a quality player who has great movement and can score goals.”
Hurst has been backed in his opinion of the Mexico international by former Arsenal and Barcelona star Thierry Henry, who also believes the former United striker will prove to be a great signing for the Hammers.
“It looks like a very, very good buy for West Ham. He knows the league and he has the experience of playing for two of the biggest teams in the world in Manchester United and Real Madrid.” said Henry.
“I wasn’t surprised to see him join West Ham because they have a history of luring players like that to the club. They had Paolo Di Canio and more recently Dimitri Payet. so there is a bit of history there.”
