West Ham United are going full steam ahead to try and qualify for the Europa League, but Javier Hernandez’s comments to the Hammers’ official club website suggest the outcome in our pursuit will be pivotal to his future at the club.
The Mexican was speaking about our dominant win over Newcastle and the upcoming trip to Cardiff, to which he has described as a “perfect” performance and claims he must again prove to Manuel Pellegrini why he deserves another start on Saturday.
Against Rafa Benitez’s men, Hernandez failed to add to his tally of five for the season so far, but the 30-year-old has become the main man at the London Stadium in 2019 while the club came to terms with Marko Arnautovic’s Chinese Super League desires and his subsequent injuries and illnesses.
“It was perfect [against Newcastle] because we managed to keep a clean sheet, we scored two goals, we generated a lot of chances,” Hernandez said. “So yes, it was a very good match and now we’re going to think about Cardiff to try and get three points and get into the European places.
“I’m only thinking about Cardiff, working for the coach to give me the chance to start again, play my best, score goals and help the team. That’s my future at the moment, as for the rest we will speak when the season is over, right now we just need to play well so we can finish in a European spot.”
When the current campaign does draw to a close, the 106-cap Mexico international will only have a year remaining on his contract in East London, so discussions will have to be held at some stage to decide whether he stays or goes.
Going into the New Year, that decision would have been a far easier call to make, but now that the 30-year-old is playing a key role, qualifying for the Europa League and retaining his services may be a more valuable prospect from those within the London Stadium.
Replacing his services, along with the question marks over Arnautovic’s future, would not be cheap, either, and the Hammers will have to spend big to replace their input and importance to the side.
