Premier League dream over for history making Cuban hotshot

Onel Hernández became the first Cuban to compete in the English top tier on the opening day of the current campaign

CARIBBEAN DREAM: : Onel Hernandez of Norwich City Photo credit: Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images

THE CURTAIN came down on Cuban Onel Hernández’s time in the English Premier League (EPL) after Norwich City were relegated following their 4-0 home defeat to West Ham United on July 11.

The 27-year-old winger still has three top-flight games remaining (Chelsea, Burnley and Manchester City) before he returns to the Championship with the Canaries, having made 23 appearances so far.

He penned a shock three-and-a-half-year £2.2m deal with the Norfolk outfit in January 2018, but the Caribbean-born midfielder could bounce back with the club into the EPL for his final season of his contract.

Campaign

Yet he embraced his first full campaign in the English game, helping Norwich finish top of the Championship with eight strikes and 10 goal assists. Hernández went on to celebrate in style following their promotion by appearing on their Carrow Road pitch draped in a Cuban flag, having secured the coveted crown the week before with a 2-1 success at Aston Villa.

This season Hernández became the first Cuban to compete in the English top tier on the opening day of the current campaign, making a 20-minute substitute appearance at Liverpool’s Anfield in August. Two months later he made history as Cuban’s inaugural goalscorer in the EPL with his consolation 88th-minute strike in their 3-1 home defeat at the hands of rejuvenated Manchester United.

Despite becoming the only Cuban professional player to ever ply his trade in the United Kingdom, Hernández has constantly been overlooked to win an international cap because of political reasons in his homeland. However, he did receive a national call-up in November 2018 for a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier against visiting Dominican Republic, only to be informed by the Cuban Football Association not to travel to Havana.

Caribbean

Cuba, nicknamed Lions of the Caribbean (Leones del Caribe), tend to not select players outside the region despite their recent dismal displays, and they have been in freefall since capturing the 2012 Caribbean Cup in Antigua & Barbuda. Costa Rican-based Marcel Hernández, no relative, scored an extra time winner to break the deadlock and see off Trinidad & Tobago for Cuba’s sole Caribbean Cup triumph.

The nation languishes in the FIFA rankings at 179, only a slight improvement on their worse ever rating of 182 in 2017-18. They have registered just one victory over the past year, courtesy of a 1-0 friendly success at hosts Nicargua last November. And Cuba have failed to score another goal over the past 12 months, which has included embarassingly hefty defeats at the hands of Canada and the United States.

There is no question that bringing in Hernández as Cuba’s most significant player would boost the team’s morale, but this is most unlikely to happen even though he has offered to pay for his own flights and accommodation. 

Before Cuba became a Socialist country under the ruling of the legendary Fidel Casto, their team were a force to be reckoned with. Cuba became the first Caribbean team to reach the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals, defeated in the last eight by Sweden in 1938, but have not come close to making a return to football’s biggest competition.

Level

At least Hernández has played at international level, albeit winning a single cap for the U18 German side when he tackled Ukraine in 2010.

Born in the central Cuban city of Morón, known the City of the Cockerel (Cuidad del Gallo) and close to the tourist hotspots of Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, Hernandez left the island aged six in 1999 and has only returned a handful of times.

GIFTED: Onel Hernández

His mother Yaneisy Mayea met a German tourist as a 21-year-old single mother in 1996 and a year later she emigrated to Gutersloh near Dortmund to marry, but she left her son with her mother for two years before he arrived in Germany. She divorced in 2010 and returned to live in the city of Morón.

Hernández, who spoke no German, was forced to make a swift transition to his new life in Europe. His stepfather, a football coach, got him integrated by using the sport to help him settle. The rest, as if often quoted, is history as Hernández has gone from the sunny climes of Cuba to the pinnacle of Carrow Road.

Impact

In Germany he competed at junior level for both FC Gutersloh and LR Ahlen before joining Arminia Bielefeld’s Academy at the age of 14. And three years later the then-Bielefeld coach Christian Ziege handed him a professional debut. Hernández made such an impact in that match that just 10 days later he won his only U18 Germany cap.

Yet following his elevation to the national side, Hernández languished in the U23 Arminia Bielefeld side with just five appearances during the 2010-11 season. 

He spent two terms with Arminia Bielefeld before competing at regional level for the reserves sides of Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg until he surprisingly joined Eintracht Braunschweig in 2016. At this higher level he proved popular and competed in 54 games over two seasons, banging in six goals, but his side narrowly missed out on promotion to the German Bundesliga.

Ambitious yet astute Norwich City made a shock swoop for Hernández and brought in striker Dennis Srbeny from German club Paderborn at the same time in January 2018. He made a dozen Championship appearances during the rest of the campaign, but in his first full season bagged nine goals in 43 games.

Assists

Hernández made an immediate impact in his opening three matches of the 2018-19 season with a pair of strikes and three goal assists. Yet his goal contributions dried up over the following four games, and it looked as though he was a flash in the pan after he was sidelined with a hernia injury for a further four matches.

Yet he bounced back with a purple patch in December 2018, notching another two strikes and a trio of goal assists, with his impressive form overshadowed the introduction of technicality talented youngster Todd Cantwell. 

However, Cantwell’s inconsistency soon vanished and he has been a hit in the EPL with Hernández often playing a secondary role to inject athleticism into the team when Cantwell’s fitness has waned.

Yet the Cuban has become more value to the Canaries as the season has progressed, because he offers an unconventional defensive style when required to track back.

Boasting

Tackling the EPL has been tough for Norwich City, whose defence has been shambolic despite boasting the Netherlands keeper Tim Krul between the sticks. As they didn’t invest financially into rejuvenating their Championship squad they have hovered around the relegation all term.

Their heavy home defeat to West Ham United, with Hernández substituted after 70 minutes, sealed their fate back in the Championship next term. 

The Cuban winger will have the chance to excite again on the Norwich left wing in their bid to make an immediate return to the English top tier. With rising star Cantwell expected to depart in the summer, Hernández will be first choice once more and offered the opportunity to shine as strong as the Caribbean sun.

Comments Form

1 Comment

  1. | Jo-Ryan Salazar

    I think Hernandez is going to be moved after this relegation.

    Reply

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