Assessing Chicharito's future with the LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy will be hosting their final home game of the year this Saturday night against Real Salt Lake, and it could be the final time fans could see the team this year. LA sits in fifth place in the Western Conference currently – so, in the playoffs but needing help around the league to get up to the fourth seed and a home playoff game.  

With Javier "Chicharito" Hernández on the final guaranteed year of his three-year contract, it’s up in the air if he’ll be back for the 2023 MLS season. There is a club option that the LA Galaxy can trigger to keep Mexico’s all-time leading scorer in SoCal for one more season. He arrived in January 2020, originally during the Guillermo Barros Schelotto era. 

With Chicharito's situation being talked about among Galaxy fans online after Tuesday's Rose Bowl '23 season opener announcement, Chicharito decided to leave his input on those discussions on his Twitter account.

It’s going to be a tough decision for the Galaxy front office to make during the offseason. Why should the Galaxy bring back Javier Hernandez and for what reasons could they possibly not want to renew the Mexican striker?

Great of late

In the Galaxy's last 10 games, Chicharito has scored 10 goals and notched two assists, and the team's picked up 12 points in the last seven games to revitalize the season. By contrast, after starting the season with five goals in his first six games, Hernández fell into a dry spell with just two goals in the following 14 games.

What’s helped Chicharito find this recent great form has been the reconstruction of the LA Galaxy midfield. Riqui Puig and Gaston Brugman have put in great performances since arriving in LA this summer. Puig has provided excellent ball progression and a creative force when playing up the pitch. Brugman has solidified the midfield with Mark Delgado and fits the mold for what Greg Vanney wants from a six —being able to hold your own defensively and being an excellent passer/possessor of the ball in midfield.

Both players fit what Vanney envisioned the Galaxy midfield could be, providing a much need boost in time to help LA’s playoff push this year. Rayan Raveloson was brought to the Galaxy to be a defensive midfielder, but was utilized in different roles in the midfield. His athleticism and his tendency to be a threat in the box prompted Vanney to move him higher up the field. He lacked creativity in the final third and at times was a liability in the Galaxy’s build-up during the season.

Raveloson's move to AJ Auxerre in Ligue 1 this summer allowed for the transactions of Puig and Brugman under MLS Salary cap rules.

The new midfield is built for Chicharito. He's very reliant on service in the box and a winger system has given more space in the box compared to the two-striker system that’s been played at times this season. Puig can play excellent through balls and keep possession in rhythm for LA when the opponent has numbers back. His ability to break lines and get the LA Galaxy playing at a fast pace has helped the club play its best football.

Going back to this example against Colorado, Puig moves this ball forward while making his own space, passes it to the wide outlet in Julian Araujo, and that progression is finished off by Chicharito, ready to score once in the box.

The current crop of players helps Chicharito, playing in a system built for his success. His good hold-up play and clinical finishing have been on display in the last 10 games at the most important time of the season for LA.

The only questions about this are the small sample size of the last 10 games, while also considering his struggles in the 14-game period where he merely only scored twice.

The heir

In the time when Hernández struggle to score as the team’s starting No. 9, Dejan Joveljić began to score crucial Galaxy goals coming off the bench. The Serbian has accumulated seven goals in sub turns, and has been directly responsible for eight of the Galaxy’s 46 points currently accumulated this season, when considering game-winning and game-tying goals.

With Joveljić showing the ability to score in MLS and not under a Designated Player tag, could the Galaxy front office transition to the Serbian being the full-time forward?

Joveljić plays similarly to Chicharito; however, the Mexican is better in possession when holding up the ball. The Serbian has shown to be a top finisher given his relatively limited minutes. He is overperforming his xG by 2.8 goals and averaging a goal every 95.5 minutes.

With Joveljić being 23 and Hernández being 34, LA may want to roll with the younger forward who is starting to prove he can score in MLS. Ten goals and three assists on the season may be enough to convince the FO that Joveljić can be a quality starter for Greg Vanney’s side. The Galaxy signed the Serbian to a four-and-a-half-year contract through the end of the 2025 MLS regular season and as he said following the Galaxy’s 2-0 win over Atlanta, he is the future.

Designated players dictate a team’s success in MLS. Being able to free up another DP slot would allow Vanney add another player to help fit his possession system on the wings — where LA has struggled to get goals and assists. There have been rumors of ex-Barcelona and Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez joining the Galaxy after the World Cup as his current contract with Nacional ends in October. 

With the form Chicharito has found as LA aim for the playoffs for the first time since 2019, there is more weight on the decision the Galaxy will have to make for 2023.