Javier Hernandez has been reunited with Wayne Rooney, seven years after hinting the Englishman was the reason he left Manchester United.
Hernandez and Rooney were team-mates for four years at Old Trafford, winning two Premier League titles together. The duo have since moved to Major League Soccer, with Hernandez playing for LA Galaxy and Rooney manager of DC United.
MLS sides are preparing for the start of the new season, which begins in one month's time. DC United will be in Los Angeles to take on LAFC in the first week of February in a warm-up friendly, though they do not face Galaxy at all in the upcoming regular season.
Before United's trip to California, Rooney has flown in, meeting Hernandez along the way. 'Chicharito' posted several pictures of himself with Rooney at Galaxy's stadium, Dignity Health Sports Park, on Wednesday.
"It's great to see you again after all this time. Thanks for all the memories we shared on and off the field. Wish you nothing but the best! Once a red always a red!" the former United star wrote as the caption.
Rooney was also delighted to link back up with Hernandez, replying: "Great to see you mate. Special memories." Despite the kind words which were exchanged, it may have been a slightly awkward meeting, given Hernandez appeared to partly blame Rooney for his exit from United in 2014.
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“When I left, he [then-United manager Louis van Gaal] told me my chances and my opportunities were going to be less because his main striker was going to be Wayne Rooney. If he wasn’t fit, for example, I was going to play, but when he was ready, he would play,” he said in 2016.
Chicharito joined the Red Devils from Guadalajara in 2010 and quickly became a fan-favourite. He was sent on loan to Real Madrid in 2014, before joining Bayer Leverkusen permanently a year later.
Rooney and Hernandez played together 98 times, contributing heavily to United's run to the Champions League final in 2011. And the Mexican clearly holds fond memories of his time at Old Trafford.
“Manchester United is always going to be my team. I’m very grateful for Real Madrid, Sevilla, Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham, all of them. I love them, I still love them and I’m going to be grateful forever," he told the UTD Podcast in 2021
"But honestly, I feel it that you’re once a Red, always a Red. What I experienced, what I lived, I can say that I was the only Mexican under Sir Alex Ferguson, I scored the last goal under him, I am the only Mexican who has won [the Premier League] so far.
“I hope more Mexican players can be in a United shirt, I will love it. But I am the only Mexican who has won the Premier League and then twice and it was the 19th and 20th titles. They then helped me to live another opportunity like play for Real Madrid and then go to Germany. Everything was because of those four years in my career.”
