Slaven Bilic: Chicharito Laid Foundations for West Ham Move 2 Years Ago

Javier Hernandez laid the foundations for his move to West Ham as early as two years ago according to manager Slaven Bilic.

Javier Hernandez laid the foundations for his move to West Ham as early as two years ago according to manager Slaven Bilic.

Chicharito signed for the Hammers in a £16m move from Bayer Leverkusen in what many are describing as the deal of the transfer window so far - given some of the 'excessive' fees we are seeing.

His move to the London Stadium might have been made easier than one might think though if Bilic's story is anything to go by.

The Croat claims the 29-year-old was on his radar two years ago but he headed for the Bundesliga, but interestingly, he did call Bilic to inform him of the decision in an unusually warm gesture.

.@CH14_ has arrived! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/LgNzU0sKSd

— West Ham United (@WestHam) July 27, 2017

He said during a pre-season press conference, as quoted by Sky Sports: "When he decided to go to Leverkusen he called me. He was very polite. He told me 'coach, sorry but I opted for Leverkusen'. It was a really nice gesture from him.

"Now, after two years, when we found out he might leave Leverkusen I called him again and of course we didn't have to start from zero.

"We were laughing and he said 'we spoke two years ago' and all that, so it probably helped that he knew that we wanted him."

Hernandez will make his first competitive appearance for his new club against none other than Manchester United on the opening day of the new Premier League season - United, of course, being the club where he made his name as an effective goal poacher a number of seasons ago.