Man United cult hero launches shock new career on TikTok after failing to find club

Former Manchester United star Javier Hernandez has baffled fans with a surprise new career venture.

Hernandez, nicknamed 'Chicharito', played 157 games for United and scored 59 times, winning two Premier League titles in the spell.

After a loan spell with Real, Hernandez turned out Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham, Sevilla, LA Galaxy and Guadalajara - his boyhood club.

That stint back at his first club came to an end in December 2025 when Club Deportivo Guadalajara opted against extending his contract.

The Mexican has not officially retired from football but has been keeping himself busy on his official TikTok channel, posting plenty of videos to his 7.2 million followers.

Hernandez has racked up 122.5 million likes across a variety of videos but has now started sharing clips of him cooking.

On Wednesday, he shared a video of him making the "chicharito sandwich" and told his fans that the recipe was "not so secret".

Beef, vegetables, cheese and pesto sauce were the key ingredients for the sandwich and the 37-year-old channelled of his inner Gordon Ramsay showed off the complete process.

Javier Hernandez showed off his cooking abilities. Image: TikTok/@chicha14_

Seeing Mexico's record goalscorer in the kitchen rather than the football pitch took many by surprise and his video amassed 5,000 comments in addition to 4.2 million views.

Reacting, one fan on TikTok said: "Chicharito is doing side quests now."

A second wrote: "I swear this is AI."

A third said: "Now that is something that I didn't expect today."

A final person commented: "Is Gordon Ramsay a footballer in this universe?"

Chivas cut ties with Hernandez after injuries reduced him to just 41 appearances and four goals in the second spell.

But in a statement confirming the exit back in December, they stressed that his connection to the club will never disappear.

"The bond between 'Chicharito' and the club he loves, the one that nurtured him and propelled him to become a legend of Mexican football, will last forever," the club said on social media.

"Javier is, without a doubt, one of the greatest figures in Mexican football. With the Rebano Sagrado, he won the Apertura 2006 league title and the top scorer award in the Bicentenario 2010 tournament, before embarking on an international career that led him to triumph at several of the most important clubs in Europe,"