Mourinho: ‘Killer’ Chicharito Would Have Scored 20 Goals With Man Utd

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez could have been a superstar striker if the Mexican had stayed at Manchester United, according to Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho told the media that the Mexican striker could have easily hit double figures at Man Utd this season if he had not moved to Leverkusen.

Mourinho said: “We have good players, they are creative players, they can create, but they are not the kind of guy that is naturally a killer.”

“I give a simple example — in the way we play at Old Trafford, in the way we dominate opponents, in the way we play in the box, I think Chicharito would have scored 20 goals easy.”

“Even coming from the bench for the last 10 or 20 minutes, he would have 20 goals.”

“He is the guy that naturally the ball comes here, rebound here, rebounds there, boom, goal.”

“The goalkeeper saves, he goes there, boom, goal. The cross is coming, he anticipates the first-post header, goal.”

Manchester United have struggled in front of goal this season and has depended too much on Zlatan for an escape route.

Zlatan has played a pivotal role for the Red Devils after joining on a free transfer from Ligue 1 giants PSG last summer. Mourinho has also been left frustrated as Man Utd stars have failed to find the net consistently.

Zlatan already has 16 Premier League goals to his name this season and has scored 27 in all competitions for Man Utd, who are struggling to finish in top four after having drawn 12 games and nine of them at Old Trafford – with the last one, a frustrating 1-1 draw with Everton.

Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba have clinched seven goal each and skipper Rooney has only managed five.

Zlatan has lacked support upfront and Mata has been the only player who reached double figures for United this season.

And Mourinho accentuated that Hernandez could have easily matched Zlatan Ibrahimovic had he not been offloaded to Bayer Leverkusen for £7.3 million in 2015.

Mourinho said: “I think Zlatan’s number of goals [27] is a number for every striker.”

“I think all the others, and I am not just speaking about the strikers, I am speaking about the attacking players with freedom, they have to reach always reach a certain number of goals which, when added between them, means a lot of victories, a lot of points, but no-one has reached that level.”

Hernandez has displayed incredible form for Leverkusen – with 27 goals to his name in 51 league appearances.