Javier Hernández Balcázar (Chicharito)

About Javier Hernández Balcázar (Chicharito)

The 2011 UEFA Champions League Final was still weeks away when Chicharito Hernández stepped onto football's grandest stages. Javier Hernández Balcázar, known by his nickname Chicharito—Mexican Spanish for "little pea"—had just completed his first season at Manchester United. At 23 years old, the Mexican striker was already rewriting the club's history books.

Chicharito was born on June 1, 1988, in Mexico. He began his senior career at age 18 in 2006 with Guadalajara, his boyhood club, where he won the Primera División. Four years later, in 2010, he signed for Manchester United, becoming the club's first Mexican player ever.

Those five years at Old Trafford were extraordinary. He amassed over 150 appearances and scored 59 goals. In his debut season alone, he won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award. He claimed two Premier League titles before departing. By any measure, his minutes-per-goal ratio of 130.2 remained among the best in league history.

His 2014 loan move to Real Madrid brought another trophy. Chicharito won the FIFA Club World Cup with the Spanish giants. That same year proved he could compete at the highest European level alongside the world's elite strikers.

In 2015, Bayer Leverkusen signed him permanently. Two years in Germany led to a return to English football when West Ham United brought him back in 2017. He continued adding to his goal tally across multiple continents and leagues.

Sevilla came calling in 2019. He spent one season in Andalusia before crossing the Atlantic to join LA Galaxy in 2020. The American league welcomed his pace and clinical finishing.

By 2024, Chicharito had completed a full circle. He rejoined Guadalajara, the club where it all began. For Mexico's national team, he became the country's all-time leading goalscorer, debuting in a friendly in September 2009. Chicharito is widely considered among the greatest Mexican players of all time and regarded as one of the best North American players ever to grace the game.