Onel Hernández

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Hernández and the second or maternal family name is Mayea.
Onel Hernández
Hernández training with Arminia Bielefeld in 2011
Personal information
Full name Onel Lázaro Hernández Mayea[1]
Date of birth (1993-02-01) 1 February 1993 (age 31)[2]
Place of birth Morón, Cuba[3]
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Left winger
Team information
Current team
 Norwich City
Number 25
Youth career
TuS Westfalia Neuenkirchen
FC Gütersloh 2000
0000–2007 Rot Weiss Ahlen
2007–2010 Arminia Bielefeld
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2012 Arminia Bielefeld 28 (0)
2012–2013 Werder Bremen II 45 (4)
2014–2016 VfL Wolfsburg II 53 (7)
2016–2018 Eintracht Braunschweig 51 (6)
2018– Norwich City 168 (11)
2021–2022 → Middlesbrough (loan) 17 (1)
2022 → Birmingham City (loan) 22 (3)
International career‡
2010 Germany U18 1 (0)
2021– Cuba 8 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 08:54, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 09:57, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Onel Lázaro Hernández Mayea (born 1 February 1993) is a Cuban professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL Championship club Norwich City and the Cuba national team.[4]

He emigrated to Germany as a child, and played in the 2. Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld and Eintracht Braunschweig. In January 2018, he signed for Norwich City, with whom he became the first Cuban to play and score in the Premier League. He spent the 2021–22 season on loan at EFL Championship clubs Middlesbrough and Birmingham City.

Club career[edit]

Germany[edit]

Born in Morón, Cuba, Hernández came through the academy system at TuS Westfalia Neuenkirchen, FC Gütersloh 2000, Rot Weiss Ahlen and Arminia Bielefeld. He made his professional league debut for Arminia Bielefeld in the 2. Bundesliga against SC Paderborn 07 on 1 October 2010. In this game, he was substituted in the 78th minute for Franck Manga Guela by Christian Ziege.[3] He played 28 league games for Arminia Bielefeld from 2010 to 2012.[4] After two years he moved to SV Werder Bremen II. On 10 January 2014, Hernández moved to VfL Wolfsburg II.[5][6]

On 2 June 2016, Hernández signed with 2. Bundesliga club Eintracht Braunschweig for the 2016–17 season.[7]

Norwich City[edit]

Hernández moved to EFL Championship club Norwich City on 25 January 2018, signing a 31⁄2-year contract under German manager Daniel Farke.[8] He made his debut on 3 February in a 1–0 home win over Middlesbrough, as an 86th-minute substitute for Josh Murphy.[9] On 4 August 2018, in the first game of the new season, he scored his first goals in a 2–2 draw at Birmingham City,[10] and added seven more as the Canaries were promoted as champions.

On 9 August 2019, Hernández came on as a second-half substitute in Norwich's 4–1 away defeat to Liverpool, becoming the first Cuban to play in the Premier League.[11] He was the first of his countrymen to score in the league too on 27 October, in a 3–1 loss to Manchester United at Carrow Road.[12]

Hernández joined Championship club Middlesbrough in August 2021 on loan for the season.[13] He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win at Nottingham Forest on 15 September.[14] His loan spell was terminated on 14 January 2022, allowing him to join another Championship club, Birmingham City, on loan until the end of the season.[15]

Hernández went straight into Birmingham's starting eleven for the following day's visit to Preston North End and played 83 minutes of the 1–1 draw.[16] A week later, he ran onto a well placed through ball from Lukas Jutkiewicz and "just had to pass it past the keeper" to open the scoring in a 2–1 win over Barnsley.[17] He was a regular for the remainder of the season, used as a wing-back as well as a winger,[18] and scored three goals from 22 appearances.[3]

Hernández returned to Norwich for the 2022–23 season, but was used mainly as a substitute in the first half of the campaign.[19] He came off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner against former club Birmingham in late August,[20] but it was only after David Wagner replaced Dean Smith as manager in January 2023 that he became a regular in the starting eleven and repaid Wagner's faith with increased productivity.[19] His second goal of the season came in a 4–2 victory away to Coventry City in late January,[21] he supplied two assists as Norwich beat Hull City 3–1 in February,[22] and his assist for Gabriel Sara in a win against Millwall that took his team into the play-off positions was his fifth.[19]

International career[edit]

Hernández has represented Germany once at the under-18 level, in a match against Ukraine in 2010.[23]

In November 2018, Hernández was called up for the first time by Cuba, but could not play due to political rules against foreign-based players.[24] In March 2021, he was called up for a second time,[25] and made his international debut in their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Guatemala.[26] On his second appearance, he scored his first goal for the country, equalising in a 2–1 loss to Curaçao.[27]

Personal life[edit]

Hernández grew up in Gütersloh after having emigrated from Cuba to Germany with his mother and sister at the age of six.[28] He was introduced to football by his German stepfather, who believed it would help Hernández integrate better into German society.[29]

Hernández became a fan favourite at Norwich after a January 2019 interview in which he spoke in praise of catalogue retailer Argos, who gave him a catalogue signed by their CEO as a souvenir.[30] He did a signing event at their Norwich Riverside store the following March.[31]

Career statistics[edit]

Club[edit]

As of match played 4 March 2024[3]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Arminia Bielefeld II 2010–11 Regionalliga West 5 0 — — — 5 0
Arminia Bielefeld 2010–11 2. Bundesliga 10 0 0 0 — — 10 0
2011–12 3. Liga 18 0 1 0 — — 19 0
Total 28 0 1 0 — 0 0 29 0
Werder Bremen II 2012–13 Regionalliga Nord 31 0 — — — 31 0
2013–14 Regionalliga Nord 14 4 — — — 14 4
Total 45 4 — — 0 0 45 4
VfL Wolfsburg II 2013–14 Regionalliga Nord 9 1 — — 0 0 9 1
2014–15 Regionalliga Nord 31 4 — — — 31 4
2015–16 Regionalliga Nord 13 2 — — 2[b] 0 15 2
Total 53 7 — — 2 0 55 7
Eintracht Braunschweig 2016–17 2. Bundesliga 34 5 0 0 — 2[c] 0 36 5
2017–18 2. Bundesliga 17 1 1 0 — — 18 1
Total 51 6 1 0 — 2 0 54 6
Norwich City 2017–18 Championship 12 0 — — 0 0 12 0
2018–19 Championship 40 8 1 0 2 1 — 43 9
2019–20 Premier League 26 1 3 1 0 0 — 29 2
2020–21 Championship 21 0 1 0 1 0 — 23 0
2021–22 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
2022–23 Championship 39 2 1 0 2 0 — 35 2
2023–24 Championship 30 0 3 0 2 0 — 12 0
Total 168 11 9 1 7 1 0 0 184 13
Middlesbrough (loan) 2021–22 Championship 17 1 1 0 0 0 — 18 1
Birmingham City (loan) 2021–22 Championship 22 3 — — — 22 3
Career total 389 31 12 1 7 1 4 0 412 33
  1. ^ Includes DFB-Pokal, FA Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in the Regionalliga promotion play-offs
  3. ^ Appearances in the 2. Bundesliga promotion play-offs

International[edit]

As of match played 12 June 2022[32][33]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Cuba 2021 4 2
2022 4 1
Total 8 3
Scores and results list Cuba's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hernández goal.
List of international goals scored by Onel Hernández[32][33]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 28 March 2021 Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala  Curaçao 1–1 1–2 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 2 June 2021 Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala  British Virgin Islands 2–0 5–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 9 June 2022 Warner Park, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis  Antigua and Barbuda 2–0 2–0 2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League B

Honours[edit]

Norwich City

References[edit]

  1. ^ "National team roster 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup: Cuba" (PDF). CONCACAF.
  2. ^ a b "Onel Hernández". Norwich City F.C. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d "O. Hernández". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Onel Hernandez". kicker.de (in German). Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Onel Hernández – Football.com". Football.com. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Spieltag/Tabelle :: Staffel Nord :: Regionalliga :: Ligen Männer :: Ligen & Wettbewerbe :: DFB – Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V". Dfb.de (in German). Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Eintracht verpflichtet Onel Hernández". eintracht.com (in German). 2 June 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  8. ^ Thomas, Lyall (25 January 2018). "Norwich sign Cuba winger Onel Hernandez from German second division". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Norwich City 1–0 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  10. ^ Bailey, Michael (5 August 2019). "'I love this game – it's crazy' Onel bouncing at his big City breakthrough". The Pink Un. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  11. ^ Johnston, Neil (9 August 2019). "Liverpool 4–1 Norwich City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  12. ^ Freezer, David (28 October 2019). "Canaries goal-scorer so proud to become first Cuban to score in the Premier League". The Pink Un. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Onel Hernandez: Middlesbrough sign Norwich City's Cuba winger on season-long loan". BBC Sport. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Nottingham Forest 0–2 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  15. ^ Johns, Craig (14 January 2022). "Onel Hernandez's Middlesbrough loan ends early as winger joins Birmingham City". GazetteLive. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Preston North End 1–1 Birmingham City". BBC Sport. 15 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  17. ^ Davitt, Paddy (23 January 2022). "City loanee Onel proves a goalscoring talisman for Blues". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  18. ^ Dick, Brian (15 April 2022). "Lee Bowyer explains Onel Hernandez's Birmingham City role". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  19. ^ a b c Southwell, Connor (5 March 2023). "Norwich City: Analysis of Onel Hernandez during Millwall win". The Pink Un. Norwich. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  20. ^ "Birmingham City 1-2 Norwich City". BBC Sport. 30 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  21. ^ Southwell, Connor (23 January 2023). "Norwich City: Onel Hernandez hopes to stay with Canaries". The Pink Un. Norwich. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  22. ^ Southwell, Connor (15 February 2023). "Norwich City: David Wagner calls for Onel Hernandez improvement". The Pink Un. Norwich. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  23. ^ "Ukraine U 18 1:2 (0:1) Deutschland U 18". dfb.de (in German). 8 October 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  24. ^ Ames, Nick (29 March 2019). "Norwich's Onel Hernández: 'It's sad. Cuban players want to play for free'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  25. ^ "Onel Hernandez set for historic Cuba debut". Norwich City F.C. 21 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  26. ^ "Onel Hernandez makes historic debut for Cuba". Norwich City F.C. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  27. ^ "Historic moment for Hernandez as he nets first Cuba goal". The Pink'un. 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  28. ^ "Eine neue Chance". eintracht.com (in German). 2 June 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  29. ^ Ames, Nick (29 March 2019). "Norwich's Onel Hernández: 'It's sad. Cuban players want to play for free'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  30. ^ "Onel Hernandez declares love for Argos to delight of fans". BBC Sport. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  31. ^ "'Onel Hernández to your collection point please' - footballer meets excited fans at Norwich Argos store". Eastern Daily Press. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  32. ^ a b "Onel Hernández". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  33. ^ a b "Cuba down Antigua and Barbuda to create Group A logjam". CONCACAF. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  34. ^ Anderson, John, ed. (2019). Football Yearbook 2019–2020. London: Headline. pp. 258–259. ISBN 978-1-4722-6111-3.
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