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Report: Chicharito eyeing summer exit from West Ham

Rob Newell - CameraSport / CameraSport / Getty

Javier Hernandez is ready to leave West Ham during the summer transfer window and is already searching for a new prospective club, as teams from Major League Soccer, China, and Turkey are all watching the Mexico striker, according to Peter O'Rourke of ESPN FC, citing sources.

O'Rourke adds that West Ham would be open to the idea of selling Hernandez if another club makes an offer that would recoup most of the £16-million fee the club paid to acquire the 29-year-old out of Bayer Leverkusen last summer.

Hernandez, affectionately referred to as Chicharito, or "Little Pea," has failed to make as much of an impact as he would have liked at the London Stadium this season, scoring just eight goals in 28 league matches, but with only 16 as a starter.

He has been used as a bench option in his last five matches, while his side fights to survive relegation from the Premier League.

It's not the first time Hernandez has been linked with an exit from West Ham. Following the January transfer window, the striker expressed that he tried to leave the club to find more minutes in the hope of securing a berth at the 2018 World Cup with Mexico.

"Yes, it was the case that I wanted to go," Hernandez said in an interview with the Darren Lewis of the Mirror last February. "Not because I don't like West Ham, but because I need to have minutes on the pitch. ...

"Now that the window is closed I am here and trying to achieve the main goals for the club, which is to be safe from relegation. Then, in the summer, we will see."

O'Rourke adds that Hernandez is still likely to feature for Mexico during the 2018 World Cup and could find an escape from the aforementioned three leagues in the summer in order to play on a more regular basis.

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