OPINION
West Ham attacker Javier Hernandez hasn’t exactly set the world alight this season and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Manuel Pellegrini.
The Hammers boss put the spotlight firmly on the 5ft 8in tall forward’s form (Source: Transfermarkt) by saying he has endured a difficult campaign thus far, but was somewhat understanding by claiming the World Cup had effected him along with a frustratingly-timed virus.
Yet Pellegrini clearly heaped the pressure on Hernandez to turn his season around by publicly revealing that he would be keeping tabs on the player to see how he performed between now and the end of this season.
“I always want more from every player,” admitted Pellegrini in his press conference on Thursday, as transcribed by Football.London.
“Javier has had for the moment a difficult season because it’s always difficult to return from the World Cup.
“You don’t have time to make a good pre-season.
“After that he started playing one game, had a virus for a month or five weeks, he must start again.
“I think he’s a good player and from now until the end of the season we’ll see how he improves his performance.”
The 65-year-old’s comments clearly imply that if Hernandez doesn’t improve then he will take action, maybe even wave goodbye to him in the summer transfer window.
This means it’s effectively sink or swim time for Hernandez from now on and he must seize any opportunity he gets to make a case for why he can flourish at the London Stadium.
The 30-year-old has so far managed two goals in 10 appearances this season, which means he has scored a very disappointing 10 goals in 43 outings for the Hammers since joining in 2017 from Bayer Leverkusen.
With several games left to go this season Hernandez has plenty of time to impress Pellegrini but he should be aiming to make a good impression as quickly as possible.
