Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez walked away from his West Ham regular season debut goalless, creating a few scattered opportunities but, on the whole, looking isolated up front as Andre Ayew and Marko Arnautović dropped into deep positions early.
Slaven Bilic acknowledged as much in post-match commentary, conceding that West Ham's initial 4-3-3 formation left Chicharito on his own.
Mexico international Hirving Lozano has scored his first competitive goal in Europe in his league debut with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. The former Pachuca winger needed all of 31 minutes to find the net in PSV's league opener against AZ Alkmaar.
Carlos Vela will soon move to Los Angeles to play for LAFC, where he will play derbies against Mexico teammates Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos, who play for the LA Galaxy. Vela appears to have a healthy competitive attitude regarding the whole thing, which is to say he will stop at nothing to destroy his friends in the name of three points.
Carlos Vela and the Dos Santos Bros = Mexico teammates, LA foes.
Carlos Vela, he of 28 years of age and over a half-century of caps for Mexico, has revealed his ambition to jettison from La Liga’s Real Sociedad in favor of 2018’s Los Angeles Football Club, i.e. a branding person’s wet dream.
Carlos Vela is rumored to become LAFC's first designated player when the team begins MLS play next season, and the Mexican attacker took the first step toward that goal Tuesday. Real Sociedad announced Vela would be leaving the club for MLS in January.
@RealSociedad pic.twitter.com/tdKu24MiRk
— carlos vela (@11carlosV) August 8, 2017
Chicharito has finally made an appearance in an actual West Ham game. The Hammers' new number 17 took the field for the last 20 minutes or so of their friendly against German fifth-tier side Altona 93, which ended in a 3-3 draw.
Hopefully Chicharito can gain full fitness before West Ham's first league match, against Manchester United on August 13.
At Chivas, Chicharito wore number 14. At Manchester United, he wore number 14. At Real Madrid, he wore number 14. At Bayer Leverkusen, he wore number seven. For the Mexico National Team, he wears number 14. For West Ham, Pedro Obian wears number 14 and Sofiane Feghouli wears number seven, so Chicharito will wear number 17.
At the very least, it gives West Ham a clever little hashtag they can use.
Jonathan dos Santos is officially an LA Galaxy player. The 28-year-old joins his brother Gio in California after sealing a move from Villarreal. He will immediately become either the best midfielder in MLS or very very close.
Welcome to Hollywood, @jona2santos! pic.twitter.com/kJQf3OydJl
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 28, 2017
After two years in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez is returning to England and the Premier League with West Ham United. The club announced the move via video Monday.
Worth the wait.. #WelcomeChicha pic.twitter.com/ZPJQLPnRpb
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) July 24, 2017
Chicharito is on his way to West Ham for a medical, and if everything is good and cool there he will become a West Ham player. He will return to the Premier League after two seasons with Bayer Leverkusen. During his first season in Germany, Chicharito lit the world on fire with 26 goals in 40 appearances. During the second season he was good but not great, but he still had some pretty cool goals.