Real Madrid have decided not to make use of the purchase option in Javier Hernández's contract and the Mexican forward will therefore return to Manchester United.

Chicharito Hernández came to Real Madrid on the very moment that the summer market window slammed shut, on 31st August in the evening, in a lightning deal that Real went for because Carlo Ancelotti had been all summer asking for a forward.

For all three months, the Italian manager insisted on another No.9 - "we need another Morata" - but he was preaching on deaf ears. After having paid out €80 million for James and nearly €20 million for Toni Kroos, Florentino had locked the club's safe and thrown away the key. The president's only priority at that time was to get Di María sold at the highest price possible to help balance the books at 'La Casa Blanca'.

In the end, Hernández made it to Madrid by the skin of his teeth, an experienced Manchester United forward who at one point looked set for a spectacular future but whose career seemed to be floundering.

Chicharito wasn't the player that Ancelotti had been asking for, but the Italian kept his mouth shut. In the first two thirds of the season, the Real manager hardly used the Mexican.

After a long, long wait, the forward finally got his chance and took full advantage of it, scoring in the Champions League quarter-finals return leg game against Atlético de Madrid. They were his 15 minutes of fame. His time at Real Madrid can be sumarissed thus: 33 games (12 as a starter), 1,1357 minutes and nine goals.