After
Eden Hazard was named PFA Player of the Year, we examine the reasons why
Chelsea’s brilliant Belgian is a worthy winner...
Quality
Jose Mourinho says he’s “probably the best young player in the world” while
Zinedine Zidane “enjoys everything he does on the pitch”. Eden Hazard has
not been short of plaudits this season, and it’s easy to understand why.
Hazard has been the standout star of Chelsea’s title charge, with 13 goals
and eight assists meaning the electric attacker has been directly involved
in 32 per cent of their 65 Premier League goals this season.
But that’s only a part of the story. A deeper look at the stats shows the
all-round excellence of his attacking play. Hazard has created more chances
(88), completed more dribbles (155) and won more fouls (100) than anyone
else. He has also completed a remarkable 958 passes in the final third, 162
more than his nearest competitor, Manchester City’s David Silva.
The likes of Diego Costa, John Terry, Cesc Fabregas and Branislav Ivanovic
have all made impressive contributions for the Blues this season, but there
is no doubt that Hazard deserves the limelight.
“He's the guy who, when you pass him the ball you just have to leave him
alone,” Ivanovic told Chelsea’s official website recently. “He will do
everything. He's something different."
Consistency
The form of team-mates such as Costa and Fabregas has dipped in the second
half of the season – Costa has scored six in 2015 compared with 14 in the
first half of the season, while Fabregas has managed four assists this year,
after registering 17 in the opening months of the campaign.
However, Hazard gets full marks for consistency. Across 40 appearances for
Chelsea in all competitions this season, the Belgian has only once gone more
than two games without an assist or a goal – a three-game ‘drought’ which
included a 10 minute Capital One Cup appearance.
If anything, Hazard has improved as the campaign has gone on, with seven of
his Premier League goals coming after Christmas to keep Chelsea on track for
the title.
The Chelsea manager is delighted with how his star pupil has continued to
deliver throughout the season. “One thing is the talent but another thing is
to be consistent," Mourinho said in the build-up to Hazard’s match-winning
performance against Manchester United, in which he scored the decisive goal.
Hazard has scored or assisted seven of Chelsea’s last 10 goals and, despite
making 52 appearances for club and country this season, is showing no signs
of slowing down.
Making the difference
“With Diego Costa out injured, Chelsea had to look to Hazard to make the
difference against Stoke and QPR. They struggled to break down both of those
sides and, but for a bit of magic from Hazard, could easily have dropped
points,” said Jamie Redknapp, summing up the Belgian’s ability to create a
moment of magic.
One such moment came in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in
October. With the game finely poised at 0-0, Hazard collected the ball 40
yards from goal and accelerated beyond Santi Cazorla and Calum Chambers
before drawing a foul from Laurent Koscielny and dispatching the penalty
himself.
Sky Sports pundit Thierry Henry says there are fewer better in the business
at making a breakthrough. “On his day, nobody can stop him,” Henry said. “He
has such great quality on the ball; he can create something from nothing and
that is a sign of a special player."
Mourinho – who values Hazard at £200m – agrees. “In this moment Eden is in a
state of mind and a tactical approach where this season we won matches
because of him and we didn’t lose matches because of him,” he said. “This is
the player I like because he’s a talented player who understands what the
team needs.”
Improvement
Hazard has been a key figure for Chelsea ever since his £32million arrival
from Lille in 2012, but this has been a pivotal season in his development.
His improvement is laid bare by comparing his stats for the last two
seasons. With five games still to play in this campaign, Hazard has already
made more assists and completed more dribbles, while he is also on course to
create more chances and beat his 2013/14 goal tally of 14.
But perhaps Hazard’s biggest area of improvement has been in his work off
the ball. Last May, Mourinho accused him of not being a team player. “He's
not the kind of player ready to sacrifice himself 100 per cent for the team
and for his mates," he said at the time.
But Hazard has responded by becoming a reliable shield for left-back Cesar
Azpilicueta. "Everybody knows I like to have the ball at my feet,” Hazard
said in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports. “But without the ball I try
to give everything offensively, defensively. This is my job.”
World’s best?
"He is already a top player and his evolution has been fantastic. He is
still very young and he can become the best."
Those were Mourinho’s words after Hazard signed a new long-term contract at
Chelsea in February. The former Lille man knows he faces a massive task to
match Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but he is three and six years
younger than the Barcelona and Real Madrid stars respectively and sees no
reason why he can’t continue to improve.
"Messi, Ronaldo they are on another planet, but yeah why not?" he told Sky
Sports. "I try to be one of the best, so if I can be why not?
"If I train every day, if I take pleasure every day, why not? I can reach
another level. At 24 Messi had won two Ballon d'Or awards already, but I am
still young and I can improve more."
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher – who rates Hazard as the Premier League’s No 1
- can only see the Belgian getting better under the tutelage of Mourinho.
“He’s pivotal to Chelsea because he’s the best player by a long way,”
Carragher said. “There’s no doubt he’s a brilliant player. He’s a player you
would only expect to get better the more he works under Mourinho because he
keeps improving.”
It seems the Premier League’s best player is only just getting started…
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