How Much For A Tico

The Melbourne Victory hierarchy face some hard decisions over the next few weeks. They must decide how much do they really think Carlos Hernandez is worth to the club. With his loan deal from Costa Rican club Liga Deportiva Alajuelense ending at the end of this season they must either negotiate a transfer for him, extend the loan deal or let him walk away.

Two years ago, after virtually winning the final off his own boot, Melbourne allowed Fred to walk away from the club and take up a contract with DC United in the American MLS. Can they afford to make the same mistake again.

I say mistake as the loss of Fred hurt the club badly. Although the club denies it, Fred was critical to the success of the 2006/07 season. He was the engine room of the midfield and the majority of the goals went through him. In the narrow system that Ernie Merrick favours he was the creativity outlet that provided the strikers with the ball to their feet that they needed. The loss of Fred was evident in the following season as the team struggled to find the fluency of the previous year as the newly loaned Hernandez struggled to find his feet in the league.

It has only been this year that the talent of Hernandez has shown through, it is no coincidence that he leads the league in providing through balls to his strikers, his vision and ability to hit his passes has no peer in the A-League. His work in close quarters and ability to hold the ball outstanding.

So why would Victory let him go? It will come down to money. It is from media reports Alajuelense want over $1 Million for his transfer and rumours are that there are other clubs in East Asia willing to part with it to obtained the Costa Rican’s services. Thankfully Carlos has indicated that he does want to stay at Melbourne which puts Victory in the box seat if they are willing to part with this amount of cash.

This kind of money would be a first for the A-League. The big question on supporters lips though is he worth it? In my opinion yes, empathically yes. However I am sure that the club’s decision will come down to whether financially they can take this step without placing undue stress on the bank balance.

Next year Melbourne we have their second shot at the Asian Champions League and need to prepare a team that can compete with the best from Japan, China and South Korea. A crucial aspect of that will be a team that can not only match these teams but win matches. To have to replace their key play maker could see a repeat of the 2007/08 season all over again and is something that Victory can ill afford.

A fully fit Carlos Hernandez will go a long way towards fulfilling that goal, without him I am not so sure we can find the back of the net consistently enough. So come on Gary Cole, Geoff Lord and co lets dust the cob webs off the wallet and ensure Melbourne has a fighting chance.

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