PEA AND HAM

Chicharito comes clean: I wanted to leave Hammers, but am happy to stay and help keep them up

STRAIGHT-TALKING Javier Hernandez has no qualms about putting the record straight.

Yes, he did ask to leave West Ham last month. Yes, he did consider offers from rival Premier League clubs.

Stuck on the bench with a place in Mexico’s World Cup squad at stake, the ex-Manchester United marksman feared he had little option.

West Ham’s no-nonsense fans, no strangers to calling it as they see it, will appreciate his disarming honesty.

Yet how quickly things change. Denied an exit because of injury to Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho’s departure, Little Pea is determined to give his all for David Moyes to keep the club away from the drop zone. “Yes, it was the case that I wanted to go,” he said. “Not because I don’t like West Ham, but because I need to have minutes on the pitch.

“The World Cup is just around the corner and I want to play. But you can see that, even though my agent says I want to go, I have been doing everything I can in a West Ham shirt to help the team.

“Against Bournemouth I scored a goal, I tried to play pretty well in the Cup and, in the last game, against Crystal Palace, I tried to do my best. I am a very professional guy