Javier Hernandez News: 'Chicharito' Named 'Best Player in the World'

This might sound like blasphemy to many members of the soccer community, but according to the Associated Press, Mexican striker, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez was named the "Best Player in the World," last week, based on a worldwide poll the news outlet conducted.

Now, before you pull your hair out, realize the award was for the Best Player in the World last week, and it was voted on by fans across the globe, making it more of a popularity contest, than a merit based award.

However, not many could argue that Chicharito was not deserving of the honor after winning Bundelisa Player of the Month in November, scoring against Barcelona in the Champions League, and capping the week off with the first ever hat trick scored by a Mexican born player in Bayer Leverkusen's 5-0 rout of Borussia Monchengladback last Saturday.

Nonetheless, the acknowledgment is quite the accomplishment considering Chicharito beat out superstars Robert Lewandowski, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jamie Vardy in the voting.

Hernandez has been on fire since joining Bayern Leverkusen this summer, scoring 18 goals in 21 games across all competitions. To put that in perspective, Chicharito's 18 goals in just a few months are twice as many as he scored last season at Real Madrid in 33 matches (9), and also twice as many as he scored with Manchester United (9) in 40 games at Old Trafford.

Hernandez has scored just three less goals than his former club has scored all season, and has outscored the Red Devils 15-10, single handedly, over the last 12 games in all competitions.

The 27-year-old Mexican striker is breaking records in the Bundesliga, and frankly, we have never seen him more happy and confident on the pitch. Congratulations once again to Chicharito and we hope he continues his success with Bayer Leverkusen.