With Cucho Hernandez coming aboard, Columbus Crew have no more excuses | Michael Arace
The Crew on Tuesday announced the signing of forward Juan Camilo “Cucho” Hernandez, formerly of Watford of the English Premier League. This is a big deal if Hernandez can put the ball in the net – and he should be able to do that, given his pedigree as a South American striker (smart, quick, precise) and his bona fides as an EPL attacker.
Hernandez, 23, is just entering his prime. In MLS, he should be a dangerous weapon in combination with first-class playmaker Lucas Zelarayan. He should be able to score enough to enliven a moribund Crew offense and revive the team’s playoff chances.
He had better, for coach Caleb Porter’s sake.
Crew president/GM Tim Bezbatchenko and his scouting staff pursued an impact signing for months. Bezbatchenko found the price to buy and the words to convince Cucho that Columbus is the place for him. It is not often that a young prospect is poached from England.
Tim Bezbatchenko has a history with big signings
Bezbatchenko was the Toronto GM who landed veteran Jermain Defoe, one of the best EPL strikers of his era and the previous record-holder for an EPL-to-MLS transfer fee. Defoe’s transfer fee from Tottenham was $10 million in 2014. That marriage didn't last. Just saying.
By and large, though, Bezbatchenko’s record in the high-stakes transfer game is solid. He acquired midfielder Michael Bradley from AC Roma with a $10 million transfer fee in 2014. He flipped Defoe for Jozy Altidore and signed maestro Sebastian Giovinco in 2015. Two years later, Toronto FC had what was to that point the greatest season in MLS history.
Yes, Cucho Hernandez is a big deal for our city. As he tries to get his visa paperwork in order in Colombia – which could delay his debut, penciled in for July 9 – there is much hype. And the hype is that Cucho is so good he’s going to take the Crew from 11th place in the Eastern Conference into the hunt for the MLS Cup.
Is that possible? It is. But it’s not a lead-pipe cinch.
Who is Cucho Hernandez?
Hernandez didn’t exactly light up the EPL and, when he was loaned to Huerca of La Liga, he was not a threat to win the Ballon d’Or. But those are the top club leagues in the world. Hernandez has scored goals against Barcelona at Camp Nou and against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. He has scored goals against Manchester City, Arsenal and Valencia. And he’s just now entering his prime.
If Hernandez does what he’s capable of doing against MLS competition over the next three years, there will be glory to Columbus in the form of serious hardware and a $15- to $20-million transfer price down the road for Hernandez.
Indeed, Hernandez might even be good enough to make Porter, who is 39-40-26 with a 10-7-3 record in the new stadium, look as brilliant as he sounds. Porter has won an MLS Cup in Columbus. He also has strung together the most godawful losing streaks in club history – and none of them were his fault.
If you are a Crew fan and you add Hernandez’s European experience with Zelarayan’s sublimity and Darlington Nagbe’s midfield engine, you have to be stoked. This combination is not unlike what Bezbatchenko put together with Altidore-Giovinco-Bradley in Toronto. It could be that beautiful.
We shall see.
Watford felt compelled to sell Hernandez. Why? Essentially, because they were more than awful enough (6-27-5) to get relegated from the Premiership down to the Championship (second) tier of English soccer.
One of the Championship rules is that no more than 11 non-homegrown players can be placed on a matchday roster. Watford’s new coach, Rob Edwards, wanted to be prepared. He wanted to cap the number of non-homegrown players at 11 to avoid any problems.
Here’s how the Watford Sporting Director, Cristiano Giaretta, is quoted on the team’s website: “When you have a player, like Cucho, that wants to leave because he cannot be guaranteed playing time, and you want to utilize your non-homegrown players carefully, then it became clear that it was better to transfer the player.”
How have big deals worked for the Columbus Crew in the past?
The Crew have a history of getting the big deals right.
In April 2007, the Crew signed attacking midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who was out of contract with his Argentine club Boca Juniors. This was one year after a biography of Schelotto, “Guillermo the Menace, History of an Idol,” was published.
In his first season in Columbus, Schelotto had five goals and 11 assists in 22 games. In his second, he had seven goals and 19 assists in 27 games and was the regular-season and MLS Cup MVP.
In August 2012, the Crew signed Schelotto’s successor, fellow Argentine Federico Higuain. He came with a $650,000 transfer fee. He had five goals and seven assists in 13 games and was MLS Newcomer of the Year. As the Crew’s No. 3 all-time leader in MLS goals and No. 1 leader in league assists, Pipa was the most productive offensive player in club history.
In December 2019, the Crew signed yet another Argentine, Zelarayan, to be Higuain’s successor. It was Bezbatchenko’s first mega-deal in Columbus.
Zelarayan’s transfer fee was around $8 million. He had four goals and six assists in 16 games during a pandemic-truncated 2020 season. He was the MLS Newcomer of the Year and the MLS Cup MVP. His two-goal, one-assist championship-game performance surpassed even Schelotto’s three-assist masterpiece of 2008.
Enter Hernandez, who, it has been adjudged, is ready to pop in MLS. Hernandez is exactly what Porter said he wanted, and needed, when he disparaged Gyasi Zardes after the team sent Zardes packing nine weeks ago.
Well, here’s Cucho. No more excuses. Make the playoffs.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cucho has scored against Barca, Man City. What will he do in Columbus?
