Leeds United promotion hero retires and thanks Whites fans for 'unforgettable' emotions and moments - YEP 14/7/23
Leeds United promotion hero Pablo Hernandez has announced his retirement from professional football.
By Graham Smyth
The Spanish attacker played more times for the Whites than
any other club in a career that brought more than 600 games as a professional.
Hernandez began his time as a player with Valencia, coming
through their youth system, and he has ended it with his home-town club
Castellón where he is part owner. In between the 38-year-old won the League Cup
with Swansea City and the Championship title with Leeds, for whom he made 175
appearances, scoring 36 goals and making a further 41.
"I don't know where to start, nor where to end...I
could write 100 pages to thank and express all the things I have experienced as
football player but I'll try to be briefer,” said Hernandez in a statement.
“After a long time thinking about it and evaluating it, I
think the time has come. It's time to say goodbye, but it's not goodbye to
football, it's just goodbye to the pitch, goodbye to putting on my boots to
train every day or play every weekend. It is not a goodbye to football because
football has been, is and will be my life and my passion!
“But now it's time to continue giving my life to this sport
that I love from another place. I want to thank all the clubs that I have had the
honour of defending their shirt, for their confidence in me, for letting me
fulfil my dream, for letting me live things that since I was a child I imagined
in my head, I can't be prouder to have been part of each of them!
“Also thank all teammates, coaches and technical bodies,
medical services and all the workers who are in the shadows but are the true
motor of all these clubs, due to their camaraderie, their trust, their respect
and sometimes even their friendship. Thank you! Thank you Lorenzo and Alberto,
and all the agents who were with me in the path. Thanks also to all the fans
who have shown me their love and respect, you have made me feel unforgettable
emotions and moments that I will keep forever with me.”
Marcelo Bielsa made Hernandez a general of the side who
earned promotion to the Premier League and his nine goals and nine assists
played a huge part in the Whites' escape from the second tier. The winner he
scored late on at Swansea City is among his most memorable goals for Leeds
because it all-but secured their promotion to the top flight.
Bielsa called Hernandez a 'reference' for the team after his
2021 departure from Elland Road.
"Pablo at the start, he was the right winger of our
team," said the club's former head coach.
“After as an offensive midfielder, and he’s a player with
football intelligence that is very, very high. He’s a player that finds the
ball with a lot of ease, he’s a player that can see the movements of the team
and pick the best pass and some technical resources that permit him to be able
to do those things that he imagines that he sees. He’s a player that always
wants the ball and when the game is easy it’s not easy to want the ball all the
time but when the game is difficult of course it’s a virtue of having when you
want the ball when you don’t have a lot of time.”
Numerous Leeds players counted Hernandez as the best player
they had played with and the best in training, during his time at Elland Road.
Hernandez returned to his native Spain to sign for Castellón
and has spent the last two seasons gracing Nou Estadi Castàlia, making just shy
of 60 appearances. He helped his local side to a promotion play-off final but
the campaign ended in heartache with a defeat by Alcorcón.
At international level Hernandez was capped four times.