Mourinho regrets Man United’s decision to sell Chicharito

Joe Williams

Jose Mourinho insists Manchester United were right to not try and re-sign Javier Hernandez this summer – but admits he regrets the club’s decision to sell the striker.

Hernandez belongs to a pool of three players which Mourinho once said United were wrong to sell – Angel Di Maria and Danny Welbeck are the others – and he says in Hernandez he was the kind of “killer” striker United would have loved last season.

Two years after Van Gaal allowed the Mexico international to leave for Bayer Leverkusen, he is back in the Premier League and could be lining up against United for West Ham on the opening day.

Asked if he was tempted to bring Hernandez back to the club, Mourinho said: “No, because he left the club a few years ago. I am not sure that it was his decision or the manager’s decision.

“But he’s a good player, he’s a player that will always score goals, so he is a player I would always welcome in my squad because he doesn’t need many minutes on the pitch to score a goal.

“But we moved in another direction and a younger player in [Romelu] Lukaku. We have (Marcus) Rashford that can be also a striker, he is originally a striker, so we didn’t feel that need.

“But no doubt that for West Ham to get a player with his experience and his quality is very, very good.”