FRISCO — Eight years after signing his first professional contract, Moises Hernandezis coming home.
Signed as the third Homegrown player in club history in July 2010, the defender will return to Dallas after two seasons with Guatemalan club, Comunicaciones. In a place that is so familiar, yet so changed at the same time, Hernandez is back with the club who gave him his initial shot.
"I’m really happy and blessed to be here," Hernandez said. "I’m really thankful with Oscar [Pareja] and the coaching staff that had the confidence to bring me back. I thought it was a good time for me to come back now, and I’m really excited and ready to help the team in any way I can.”
After he signed in 2010, alongside Homegrowns Victor Ulloa and Ruben Luna, Hernandez moved back-and-forth between FCD and other clubs he was loaned out to during his tenure, including Comunicaciones in 2012, Deportivo Saprissa in 2013 and Rayo OKC in 2016. Hernandez agreed to part ways with FCD prior to the 2017 season and signed with Comunicaciones on a permanent basis shortly afterwards.
Unable to move his wife and now two young sons to Guatemala on a permanent basis, the defender chose to return to the United States at the end of his contract and was invited to come train with his former club in Frisco. Hernandez said he prioritizes family above everything else, and it was the right time to come back home.
"Those two years away from home, it wasn’t easy at all," Hernandez said. "Not being so close to my family all the time, so I thought it was the right time for me to come to the league to be closer to my family and my kids. It’s the most important thing, and I’m really happy to be here."
Hernandez will be in a different situation when he is integrated with the team, though. When he featured in games for FCD in 2014 and 2015, Hernandez was just 22 and 23 years old, respectively. Now returning at 26 years old, he's one of the older players on FCD's current squad. Arriving from Comunicaciones, Hernandez brings veteran experience from a different league, while also a familiarity with MLS and Pareja's style of play - with their relationship dating back to his days in the FC Dallas Academy.
“I’m just here to help in any way I can," Hernandez said. "I could play center back, left back, I can play in the line of three in the back or out wide. I’m a very versatile defender, I can play anywhere in the back line. That’s what Oscar likes also and the coaching staff, so I’m here, like I said, in any way that I can to contribute to the team.”
The former Homegrown said he's thankful to Comunicaciones for his two season in Guatemala, but now that he's back at FC Dallas, he wants to help his hometown club in any way he can.
"I’m really thankful for the almost two years I was there, I’m really thankful to the club Comunicaciones," Hernandez said. "They treated me very well, but I thought it was the right time for me to come back to the United States at the highest level here in USA.”
