Since Leeds were relegated from the Premier League in 2004, only nine players who debuted for the club since then have reached the tally of 150 appearances for the club. Five players – Jonathan Douglas, Jonny Howson, Jermaine Beckford, Robert Snodgrass and Luciano Becchio - did it between 2009 and 2011. Then, between 2012 and 2018, only one player reached the 150-game tally – Ross McCormack against Doncaster Rovers in 2014 – in a period when Leeds finished in the top-half of the league only once and saw several players pass through as members of the Leeds United One Game Club, including the likes of Granddi Ngoyi, Dario Del Fabro and Paul McKay. But more recent times have seen three players reach the 150-game tally; Liam Cooper in March 2019, Stuart Dallas in August 2019 and Kalvin Phillips in September 2019. Pablo Hernandez’s 149th appearance saw him score and assist against Hull and, barring an injury, he will make his 150th against Huddersfield. With Dallas and Phillips before him this season, it would be the first time since 1999-2000 to see three Leeds players reach the 150-game mark in the same season, when Lucas Radebe, Nigel Martyn and Lee Bowyer did so.
Hernandez joined Leeds in August 2016 from Qatari side Al-Arabi, having spent the 2015-16 campaign on loan in La Liga at Rayo Vallecano, suffering relegation. He has delivered for the club on a regular and consistent basis; since the start of the 2016-17 season, Hernandez has been directly involved in more Championship goals than any other player (31 goals, 34 assists) and is the only player to both score 30 goals and deliver 30 assists in that time. The 17 players ahead of him for goals in that time are all strikers – Patrick Bamford has only one more goal than Hernandez in that time – highlighting the Spaniard’s quality in front of goal, as well as his obvious brilliance in setting up teammates.
Comparing players in England's top four tiers across the Premier League down to League Two since August 2016, Hernandez is one of only five players to both score and assist 30 league goals in that time. It is worth pointing out that of the other four players, only Marcus Maddison has appeared in England's top-two divisions in that time frame, with seven appearances for Hull City this season, one of which was a 14-minute cameo in their 4-0 defeat to Leeds.
This season, Hernandez has scored six times and registered six assists, which are both halfway to his tally for last season, when he scored 12 and assisted 12. To put his numbers last season into context, he was the first player to achieve both in a Championship season since 2014-15 (both Matt Ritchie and Michail Antonio achieved it) and one of only three Leeds players to do so in the past 30 league seasons, along with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 1998-99 (18 goals, 13 assists) and Robert Snodgrass in 2011-12 (13 goals, 13 assists). Hernandez also created 122 chances in the Championship in 2018-19, 25 more than any other player; since 2013-14 (when Opta began collecting detailed Championship data), the only player to create more chances in a single season is current England international James Maddison in 2017-18 for Norwich City (124). Indeed, since 2016-17, Hernandez has created 373 chances in the Championship - 119 more than any other player in that time. Although he has played more games than others in the division in that time, even comparing his ratios to that of others with a lot of game-time looks favourably on Hernandez - he has the best minutes per chance created of any player in the division to play at least 5,000 minutes, with only Brentford's Said Benrahma and Preston's Paul Gallagher close to Hernandez's output.
Hernandez's 12 league assists last season were one of just five instances since Leeds United were relegated in 2004 that a player has reached double figures for assists in a season - three of those were recorded by Robert Snodgrass, with the only season the Scotsman failed to get to 10 assists the 2009-10 season (he wasn't far off - he got nine). The other player to achieve that feat was Jermaine Wright in 2004-05.
Although not as productive as last season in terms of goals and assist numbers (last season by the end of February 2019, he had seven goals and 11 assists in 27 appearances), he has already equalled his goal tally from his first season in 2016-17 in 14 fewer games. Looking at more in-depth numbers, Hernandez is still producing at similar rates; he is creating a chance for his teammates every 32 minutes this season, down only marginally from last season, and in open play he is creating a chance every 35 minutes - his best ratio in a season for Leeds.
Marcelo Bielsa has described Pablo Hernandez as "one of the best players in his position I have worked with in my career", which has spanned spells as coach of Argentina and Chile, as well as stints at Athletic Bilbao and Marseille where he coached the likes of Pablo Aimar, Alexis Sanchez and Dimitri Payet. Hernandez's influence on Bielsa's Leeds is unquestionable: since Bielsa took charge, Hernandez has started 63 games, with Leeds winning 39 (62%), while without Hernandez in the starting XI the win percentage drops to just 33% (9 wins in 27 games). Hernandez has scored 18 goals and assisted 18 more in 66 Championship games under the Argentinian, a tally that is 10 higher than any other player at the club has been directly involved in since the start of last season.
Hernandez has also undoubtedly benefited from Marcelo Bielsa's blueprint of attacking football; he now has more league goals under Bielsa (18) than he did under Garry Monk, Thomas Christiansen and Paul Heckingbottom combined (16), also registering more assists (18) than under the previous three coaches he has worked under at Elland Road (16). Hernandez's game has adapted too: 82% of the chances Hernandez has created in Bielsa's team have been in open play, compared to 59% under the previous three, when he was on set-piece duty much more frequently, viewed most closely during 2016-17 when seven of his eight assists were via set plays (since then, six of his 26 assists have been from set plays, and none this season). Hernandez took 64% of Leeds' corners in the Championship under Monk, Christiansen and Heckingbottom, whereas this is down to 28% under Bielsa, who has preferred to use Kalvin Phillips, who had taken just 42 corners for Leeds before Bielsa's arrival; he's taken 214 since then.
Hernandez is also something of a good luck charm when he finds the net for Leeds. He has scored in 29 league matches and Leeds have won 23, including 10 of their last 11 since he scored a late consolation goal in a 4-1 defeat at West Brom in November 2018 - which is so far the only league game Hernandez has scored in for Leeds and lost. Leeds have also never lost at Elland Road when the Spaniard has scored, winning 13 and drawing three of 16 games. Among the 58 players to score in at least 25 league games for Leeds, only three have a better win ratio in those matches than Hernandez's 79%.
With the ultimate aim for Leeds United promotion to the Premier League, Hernandez recently signed a new contract at Elland Road until the end of the 2021-22 season, by which time Hernandez would be 37. In the wake of Hernandez signing the new deal in November last year, Bielsa said that he could play in the Premier League "no problem" should the Whites gain promotion. 35 next month, Hernandez would be Leeds' first outfield player aged 35 or older since Michael Brown appeared on the final day of the 2013-14 season aged 37, while in the Premier League only six outfield players appeared for Leeds at 35 or older between 1992 and 2004. With his potential 150th appearance against Huddersfield, Hernandez will become the fourth oldest player in the club's entire history on his 150th appearance, and the oldest since Gordon Strachan in 1992.
With exceptional quality on the ball and the ability to win games either by scoring or assisting crucial goals, Hernandez will be pivotal in the final 10 matches of the Championship season as Leeds look to return to the top-flight of English football; if they get there, a 35-year-old Pablo Hernandez is more than deserving of proving to everyone he can still handle the demands of football at the highest level.