Birthday Boys- Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez and Youssef En-Nesyri

In today’s edition of Birthday Boys we explore the career’s of ex-Manchester United forward Javier Hernandez and Sevilla forward Youssef En-Nesyri.

Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez

The ex-Manchester United, Real Madrid and West Ham forward turns 32 today and has been a star for a few teams he has played for but how did Chicharito get to Europe from Mexico.

The striker started his professional career at Guadalajara as he was promoted from the U20’s in the summer of 2006.

The 06/07 would be the forward’s first ever senior season and it would see him make eight appearances scoring one goal in all competitions. He would appear in 11 games the next season but he did not score a single club for the Mexican club in that season.

In the 08/09 season, Chicharito featured quite a lot for the Mexican club as he featured 31 times for the club scoring seven goals and assisting twice.

His scoring boots would come on in the 09/10 season for Guadalajara as he would feature 28 times scoring 21 goals and assisting seven goals giving him an average of one goal contribution per game.

In the summer of 2010, Manchester United signed the Mexican forward for £6.75 million. His first season for the Red Devils would see him score 20 goals and assist five times in 45 games.

He would appear less the next season but still appeared over 30 times and scored 12 goals. 72 appearances in the next two seasons saw Chicharito score 27 times in that space of time.

In September 2014, the forward would be loaned to Real Madrid for the rest of the season till June 2015. It was a mediocre spell in Madrid with the forward featuring in 33 matches for Los Blancos where he would score and assist nine goals.

Bayer Leverkusen signed the Mexican for just over £10 million in the summer of 2015. In the two seasons that he spent in Germany he would appear 76 times scoring 39 goals and assisting nine times.

A £16 million signing for West Ham in the summer of 2017 saw the Mexican back in the Premier League again. 63 games for the London club saw the Mexican score 17 goals and assist four goals.

In September 2019, he would move to sunny Spain to Seville for £7 million. He would rarely feature for the Spanish club only making 15 appearances and scoring three goals. He then signed for the LA Galaxy in January 2020 only making two appearances for the club so far.

For the Mexican national team he has made over 100 appearances scoring 52 goals in the process. He’s also appeared in three World Cups (2010,2014 and 2018). He’s also won the Gold Cup with Mexico in 2011 and was Mexico Player of the Year in the 2010/11 season.

He’s won the Premier League twice and the Community Shield twice with Manchester United, the FIFA Club World Cup with Real Madrid and the Liga MX with Guadalajara.

Youssef En-Nesyri

The Moroccan striker turns 23 today and is considered a solid player in La Liga currently.

At the start of his career in 2015, he would move from his homeland Morocco to Malaga in Spain as he joined the Spanish team’s U19’s setup from AM Football for a fee of £100,000.

In January 2017, he would sign his professional contract for the club and feature in the first team for the second half of the season. He featured 15 times for the rest of the season scoring one goal and grabbing one assist in the process.

His first full season would be the 17/18 season, where he would play 26 times for the club in all competitions scoring four goals.

En-Nesyri was on the move again in the last couple of days of the 2018 summer transfer window to CD Leganes for a fee of £5.4 million.

For the first time in his career he would appear 30 times for a club. In the 18/19 campaign he featured 34 times for Leganes scoring 11 goals and assisting on two ocassions.

19 appearances for Leganes in the first half of the 19/20 season saw the striker score four goals and assist two goals. In January 2020, he was on the move yet again with Sevilla paying £16 million for the striker’s services.

He has played 11 games for the club so far this season and managed to score four goals in the process.

He made his international debut for Morocco back in 2016 at the age of 19 and has made 21 appearances since his debut scoring six goals.