Leeds United are a side crying out for a quality striker to lead the line next season. They were last season when attempting to replace the 27 goals of Chris Wood from the 2016/17 campaign.
It was more miss than hit last season as United struggled to replace the big Kiwi’s 27 Sky Bet Championship goals from the 2016/17 campaign. Manfully as they tried, neither Kemar Roofe (11) not Pierre-Michel Lasogga (10) stepped close enough to the mark with their combined 21 goals that came in fits and starts.
Excitement began to grow when the Whites were linked with then soon-to-be free agent Abel Hernandez. The Uruguayan striker had turned down the offer of a new deal at Hull City and was looking for a deal elsewhere.
Reports that he was keen to stay in English football emboldened Leeds United fan hopes even more. Those hopes were somewhat dashed when it became apparent that a deal was going to be difficult to broker.
The Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP) suggested earlier this month that the withdrawal of interest by Leeds United was down to the astronomical financial package that he was expecting. The YEP mentioned that this was going to work out at above an expected £100,000-per-week.
Since then, nothing. Hernandez has been linked to moves to CSKA Moscow and teams in Turkey, yet he’s stayed put in Uruguay. Until the early hours of this morning that is.
The above is a still from Hernandez’s Instagram story video. Shot at around 1a.m. this morning, it appears to show an aircraft on standby and awaiting permission to taxi for take-off.
So, obviously Hernandez is on his travels but where to? He could be going on holiday, I mean that is plausible enough to think – but why set off at around 1a.m. in the morning. I mean that is a bit unreasonable an hour to get packed and ready to relax.
I mean, if he’s going on a football-related journey, say there was a definite time-frame involved, then a 1a.m. flight would make more sense if there were deadlines to meet elsewhere. To add intrigue and a sense of mystery to this still/Instagram video, at the time it was taken there was a United Airlines flight (UA7120) that left Montevideo airport bound for Panama City at 01:09, arriving at its destination at 06:46.
Probably means nothing, but there are direct flights from Panama City to Miami and England is only one flight away – direct to London Heathrow or with a stopover to somewhere like Manchester.
Wishful thinking maybe for Leeds United fans, but Abel Hernandez is definitely on the move somewhere.
