Behind the Columbus Crew's club-record signing of Cucho Hernandez
Bezbatchenko was in England recently, hoping to wrap up a deal that sources say required a $10 million transfer fee. At dinner with Hernandez, he began to lay out some of the key pieces on the roster. He wanted to show Hernandez their playing styles and how the Colombian international would fit in. Hernandez had already done his homework. He knew about previous club-record signing Zelarayan and how they may form a potent attacking duo. He knew about Nagbe and his prowess, as well as Mensah and the rest of the Crew's core pieces. “He already watched a number of games,” Bezbatchenko said. “Players at this level are intelligent and they surround themselves with good people, for the most part. … We were excited about not just the player, but the potential collaboration with our roster and Cucho.” The process to identify Hernandez and other targets for a potential addition at center forward spans months. With Gyasi Zardes entering the final year of his contract, the club knew there was a possibility a need would open up before long. Zardes was traded from Columbus to the Colorado Rapids in April, and with it, he vacated a DP spot. Columbus had already started the preliminary scouting process in preparation during the winter and dialed it up throughout the spring. They had targets for numerous price points. There was an outlined budget, but the front office brought the possibility of Hernandez to ownership, who sanctioned a club-record move above the previously expected expenditure. Hernandez was too enthralled to pass up. “The one thing that’s different about our ownership group, if there’s a player outside our budget, we can make a case for him,” Bezbatchenko said. “If we can prove the player is a difference-maker, like Cucho and a few other players, they will support us. But it’s not something we started off by doing [in terms of breaking our record transfer fee].”
Columbus Crew Sign ‘Cucho' Hernandez From English Side Watford in Record Deal
The Columbus Crew acquired Colombian forward Juan Camilo Hernandez, known as Cucho, from Watford on Tuesday. Terms of the contract, which runs through 2025, were not released but the Crew said it paid the largest acquisition fee in the Major League Soccer club's history. Hernandez will join the team once he obtains obtains his visa and transfer certificate following the opening of the league's secondary transfer window on July 7. Hernandez, 23, appeared in 28 games for Watford across all competitions this past season, with five goals and three assists. He scored 49 seconds after coming off the bench in his debut match last August against Aston Villa and is the first Colombian to score in his Premier League debut. Hernandez has appeared with the Colombian national team twice. He scored a pair of goals in his debut with the team against Costa Rica in 2018. “As we enter the halfway point of the season, we feel this is the missing piece to push us over the top. We are looking forward to Cucho’s integration into our game model as we believe he can be that consistent goal scorer we’ve been looking for to turn our positive play into more consistent results," Crew coach Caleb Porter said in a statement. The Crew (4-5-5) currently sit in 11th in the Eastern Conference. Hernandez will occupy an international roster spot.
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