Chicharito to Valencia as a Roberto Soldado replacement?

You know, just the other day, I was pondering to myself, "I'm surprised there hasn't been any Chicharito transfer rumors making the rounds in this summer's striker carousel." Well, there is one now. According to a report by the Daily Express, La Liga side Valencia have identified Javier Hernandez as a possible replacement for Roberton Soldado, who is likely to be departing for Tottenham Hotspur soon.

There are a few obvious reasons to think that Chicharito to Valencia is unlikely to get done. Firstly, Valencia are really poor and they desperately need money -- that's perhaps why Saldado has such an affordable £26m release clause. This, perhaps, allows them to save face with their supporters if another club triggers the clause because they can simply claim they couldn't do anything about the player moving on. This could be particularly important because Valencia have sold the likes of Juan Mata, David Silva, and David Villa in recent years.

In addition, if Valencia's goal was to obtain funds in order to help pay off their debt, then Chicharito isn't a viable target because Manchester United likely wouldn't even consider an offer less than £25m for the 25-year-old. The market has been inflated this summer due to the incredible amounts of money being thrown around for top-class class strikers*. While the Mexican international isn't worth the money that the likes of Edinson Cavani and Falcao are, United could argue that he matches the £34m valuation that Real Madrid and Napoli have seemingly put on Gonzalo Higuain. Even if United didn't believe that, they'd surely argue that point.

* Robin van Persie's £22.5m move last summer is looking like pretty good value right now.

Furthermore, if Wayne Rooney exits Old Trafford this summer, then United would be left with just three established strikers: Robin van Persie, Danny Welbeck, and Chicharito. If the Englishman is sold, it's very possible that his transfer saga is dragged out until the end of August and that wouldn't leave United any reasonable amount of time to find a replacement for both him and the Mexican international. David Moyes would be fine navigating the season with three strikers in his likely 4-2-3-1 system because Shinji Kagawa (and possibly Cesc Fabregas) can offer a top-notch option 'in the hole', but he wouldn't be able to get by with just two.