Marcel Hernandez leaves Herediano to sign with Internacional de Santa Tecla

Nobody in Heredia saw it coming. A championship-winning forward, still under contract and still in the middle of his best scoring run, asked to speak with the squad after a training session to announce he was leaving. That's what Marcel Hernandez did a few days ago, and now the destination behind all that mystery is known: Internacional de Santa Tecla, of El Salvador.

The 37-year-old Cuban forward closed out a long and productive chapter in Costa Rican soccer. He had asked to leave Herediano while still under contract with the national champion, and the club tried to keep him. They couldn't. Marcel had already made up his mind, said his goodbyes to the group, became a free agent, and started working to leave the country.

That move didn't come out of nowhere. As ESPN had reported earlier, there was already a close relationship between the forward and the Costa Rican owners of the Salvadoran club, to the point that the player's personal brand had a hand in designing the team's kit during the previous tournament. Talks had been going on for a while, though without a deal in place. Now there is one, and Marcel is starting a new chapter in a league he never played in before.

A career built from scratch

Hernandez's run in Costa Rica was no small thing. He arrived in the country at 28, an age at which many players already have their careers established, and had to build his practically from zero. He ended up becoming the all-time leading foreign scorer in Costa Rican First Division history, a stat that sums up pretty well what he left behind in that league.

His last chapter, with Herediano, was the strongest of them all. He won titles, scored 35 goals across four tournaments, and picked up five awards at the 2025-2026 Unafut season after another prolific campaign. With that level and that form, who saw a departure like this coming, right in the middle of it all?

Hernandez himself explained that the decision was about something bigger than day-to-day soccer.

I thought about my future and my family's future before making the decision.Marcel Hernandez

That line makes the move easy to read: this wasn't about a rough patch or a lack of playing time, but a personal bet with an eye on what comes after his playing days. He had stability, he was a recent fan favorite and one of the champion's key figures, but he chose to move on anyway.

Now the challenge is different. Marcel Hernandez leaves behind a league that made him a historic scorer to test himself in Salvadoran soccer, joining an Internacional de Santa Tecla side that had been waiting a while for this announcement.