Eden exit: A hazard waiting to happen

2018/2019 Premier League season has had the best goal turnout for Eden Hazard since he joined Chelsea in June 2012, which has made it his best season till date. His contributions to Chelsea football club cannot be overestimated.

The Belgian whiz who also adorns the number 10 shirt at Chelsea is at the prime of his football career and Real Madrid who have consistently courted his services beckons. The rumours seemed to have died down with Hazard himself debunking such rumours. “I want to score a lot of goals and become a legend at this club like John Terry, Frank Lampard,” he said during the January transfer window. Things have changed now though as his hero Zinedine Zidane is back into the fray at Madrid after he resigned in 2018. His reappointment was primarily due to Madrid’s shambolic performance in all competitions this season. His presence has also added more fuel to rumours, and it is no secret that Hazard admires Zidane and hopes to play for him one day. Hazards contract expires in the summer of 2020, so the ball is now in his court. He can decide where he wants to go, and Chelsea would be wise to cash in.

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Chelsea cashing in would be a difficult decision thanks to his prolific performance in terms of goals and assists. Eden has contributed 31 goals (16 goals and 15 assists) to Chelsea’s league goals so far in the 2018/2019 league season. This inadvertently means that he has contributed almost 50 percent of Chelsea’s goals, helping them achieve a top three spot. He can carry a team on his shoulders with magical moments, and that’s what he has done numerous times with Chelsea this season, and they know quite well that losing him means losing half of their goals.

Having tried their best to hold on to their prized asset, offering him a bumper 300 pounds deal which was turned down as his heart seems set on a move to Spain. His goal and assist tally of 15+ goals and assist is the first time anyone has achieved such a feat since Thierry Henry which was in 2002/2003 league season. He is the fifth player in the Premier League era to achieve such feat, and that shows his class.

After the legendary duo of Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard’s name would be one of the names touted as the best in the world. With time no longer on his side, there is a feeling that it’s now or never for him to move out in search of silverware which he will be able to get at Real Madrid, the only club his heart is set on.

To Real, they know paying a transfer fee in excess of a hundred million pounds for Eden would be a bargain in a bloated and inflated transfer market, while to Chelsea though they know losing Eden in the summer without a proper replacement is a disaster waiting to happen.

By Oguche Joseph

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