Leeds United promotion hero Pablo Hernandez has announced his retirement from professional football
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 honor of defending their shirt, for their confidence in me, for letting me fulfill 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.
