Rumour was strengthened yesterday that Leeds United were interested in acquiring Hull City striker Abel Hernandez.
This news came about via Phil Hay, the Yorkshire Evening Post writer saying that the Whites were “targeting [the] out-of-contract Hull City striker” who they were hoping to capture “on a free transfer.”
Hearts soon began to flutter in Leeds United fans’ chests that they were being linked, and linked quite strongly, to such a ‘name’ player and capable striker.
Reports and rumours from earlier in the week had seen the West Yorkshire club linked with Carpi frontman Jerry Mbakogu. The links with Hernandez were, therefore, a definite upgrade on any notion of Nigerian striker Mbakogu joining the club.
The Urguayan arrived at Hull City for a fee of £10 million, signing on from Italian side Palermo in September 2014. The 29-cap Uruguayan forward has declined a contract extension at the KCOM and will see his current deal end on June 30.
He’s a prolific striker at Championship level, featuring in 49 games for the Tigers in the Championship and scoring 28 goals as well as providing four assists. In an injury-hit 2017/18 campaign, where he missed six months with an Achilles injury, Hernandez still managed to score eight times in 10 games.
However, in a tweet on his personal account, Hull Daily Mail journalist pours some cold water on Leeds’ pursuit.
Not ruling anything out but suspect this would be a difficult deal for any Championship club to do. Hernandez’s people were asking for crazy money (£75k a week) when he came close to joining Villa two years ago https://t.co/4Z2w704fzD
— Philip Buckingham (@PJBuckingham) May 16, 2018
If that figure, £75,000-per-week, still stands, it wouldn’t just break Leeds United’s strict wage structure – it would blow it clean out of the water. However, and despite Buckingham’s claims that a deal for Hernandez “would be a difficult deal for any Championship club to do,” there are still enquiring minds out there wondering if it is still a possibility.
that’s my reading of it. Hernandez is the striker Leeds want and as much as you can see him ending up elsewhere, I just don’t think they’d waste time working on this if it was completely implausible
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) May 17, 2018
Phil Hay, in answering the comment by Leeds United fan Jay, gives Leeds United fans the hope that they will be looking for. Despite the wage claim amount, Hay says that he can’t see the Whites pursuing Hernandez if his capture isn’t a feasible one.
