Chicharito Should Be One Angry Little Pea

It's ironic that this is the picture accompanying many of the Van Persie articles this summer, because, my, he is emphatically not a young striker, even beyond the cold reality of his 29 years. He was phenomenal last year, but 24 million for a guy with that much gray hair and that injury history is a lot of cash.

The Van Persie signing is also, of course, a bit of a bummer for Chicharito. The formation that Ferguson adopts will be key to determining if he's a super-sub or forgotten entirely (more here), but absent injuries, it's hard to see him figuring even as much as he did last year, forget starting the Champions League final. Price tag aside, it's hard to blame Ferguson for bringing in a player of Van Persie's quality, but what a pisser for Hernández. He was forced from the Olympics by Ferguson on the pretense that he needed a full preseason to ready himself for the season, the unspoken message being, Sacrifice the Olympics, it will pay off for you in the season. It's not that Ferguson owes anyone anything other than his best efforts to make the team successful, and nor could he be sure ahead of time that he would wind up with Van Persie, but Hernández missed out on a Gold Medal to get in top shape for a team for whom he'll be lucky to start a dozen games.