LONDON, England (Reuters) – If Manchester United seal a 12th Premier League crown in May, manager Alex Ferguson may reflect on signing Javier Hernandez a year earlier as the key to usurping champions Chelsea.
In his first season in English football, the Mexican striker nicknamed ‘Chicharito’, or ‘Little Pea’, has proved that if you give him a sniff of goal, he will score.
The 22-year-old boasts an incredible ratio of goals per shots on target. After notching two in United’s 4-0 win at Wigan Athletic yesterday, statistics from data company Opta revealed Hernandez has scored nine league goals from just 13 shots on target.
His strikes at the DW Stadium yesterday helped send United four points clear at the top of the table with 11 games remaining.
Hernandez agreed to sign for United in April 2010, with the Premier League club paying a reported 7 million pounds ($11.3M) to his Mexican side, Guadalajara.
Ferguson later acknowledged that United’s scouts had saved the club millions for identifying him as a transfer target before he shone for Mexico at the World Cup finals in South Africa.
His phenomenal finishing abilities have not been lost on Ferguson, despite the Scot using him sparingly as a starter. Of Hernandez’s 18 Premier League appearances, only eight have been from the first whistle.
“When he gets the chances he does put them away, his percentage is very high,” Ferguson said after choosing Hernandez to partner Wayne Rooney in attack against Wigan.
Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov, the Premier League’s top scorer with 19 goals, had to be content with a place on the bench as Hernandez showed just how clinical he can be.
United had to weather a difficult opening and, according to Ferguson, had to “hang on a bit” before Hernandez struck after 17 minutes with a clever finish from close range from Nani’s cross.
Hernandez also showed he could combine impressively with Rooney, the England striker putting him through to fire a second goal 14 minutes from time to give United breathing space.
“Terrific play from Chicharito, that’s what he’s good at,” Ferguson said. “It’s an amazing advantage when he’s inside the penalty box.
“They were two good finishes. If you watch the first one again, he bends his run and spins across the defender to the front post to knock it in. He made a great run for the second and Wayne played him in nicely.”