I started hearing about this rising superstar at Chelsea when I was just joining high school. Everyone at the time was saying he was the best player in the Premier League ever since Thierry Henry. With some pundits and football experts even calling him a Lionel Messi regen.
This made me get huge interest in watching Chelsea’s football matches just to get the gratification of everyone’s praise of this star. I have to be honest I was amazed by how good he was.
I even tried copying him, trying to do as many skill moves as possible whenever I could in my High School team, so much so that I found myself a Chelsea diehard fan. His name was no other than Eden Hazard.
Eden Hazard was so talented that many touted him as a multiple Ballon d’Or winner in the Messi and Ronaldo era. He had everything in his locker. His technique, decision-making, and ball control were out of this earth, making it obvious that he was in a league of his own.
Born on January 7, 1991, Hazard began his professional football career with Ligue 1 club Lille in 2007 at the age of 16. Due to his special talent, Lille’s manager at the time Rudi Garcia made him a regular mainstay of the team despite his young age. During his five years at the club, he would win Ligue 1 Player of the Year twice, becoming the first non-French player to clinch the honor. He would also win a league title and a French Cup. He would also score 50 goals and 53 assists in 194 appearances for the club. He was special.
Outside of Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar, Hazard was one of the most talked-about football players in the World. No one even came remotely close.
This made Chelsea come and hunt for the talent before anyone else. They paid a bargain fee of £32million and the rest was history in the 2012-13 summer transfer window.
Eden Hazard through his time at Chelsea was a level above everyone else, how he terrorized his opponents with his flashy and rapid feet was a sight to behold.
He would determine the outcome of matches by moments of magic, he would leave the spectators in wow mode. He etched himself as one of the greatest Chelsea and Premier League players to grace the club and league respectively. Here are his stats for Chelsea.
He scored 110 times and provided 81 assists across all competitions in his 191 club appearances before his departure at the club to Real Madrid in the summer of the 2019-20 summer window on an initial fee of 100 million Euros.
Here are his achievements and stats for the National side and all the clubs he has played in.
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–2003 | Royal Stade Brainois | ||
| 2003–2005 | AFC Tubize | ||
| 2005–2007 | Lille | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2007–2008 | Lille II | 13 | (1) |
| 2007–2012 | Lille | 147 | (36) |
| 2012–2019 | Chelsea | 245 | (85) |
| 2019–2023 | Real Madrid | 54 | (4) |
| Total | 459 | (126) | |
| International career | |||
| 2006 | Belgium U15 | 5 | (1) |
| 2006 | Belgium U16 | 4 | (2) |
| 2006–2008 | Belgium U17 | 17 | (2) |
| 2007–2009 | Belgium U19 | 11 | (6) |
| 2008–2022 | Belgium | 126 | (33) |
Honors
Lille
Chelsea
- Premier League: 2014–15, 2016–17
- FA Cup: 2017–18; runner-up: 2016–17
- Football League Cup/EFL Cup: 2014–15; runner-up: 2018–19
- UEFA Europa League: 2012–13, 2018–19
Real Madrid
- La Liga: 2019–20, 2021–22
- Copa del Rey: 2022–23
- Supercopa de España: 2021–22
- UEFA Champions League: 2021–22
- UEFA Super Cup: 2022
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2022
Belgium
- FIFA World Cup third place: 2018
Individual
- Belgian Sportsman of the Year: 2018
- UEFA Europa League Player of the Season: 2018–19
- Ligue 1 Player of the Year: 2010–11, 2011–12
- FWA Footballer of the Year: 2014–15
- Premier League Player of the Season: 2014–15
- PFA Players’ Player of the Year 2014–15
- PFA Fans’ Player of the Year: 2018–19
- Belgium Player of the Year: 2017, 2018, 2019
- Best Belgian Abroad: 2017, 2018, 2019
- Chelsea Player of the Year: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2018–19
- Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year: 2014–15, 2018–19
- FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 2018
- Bravo Award: 2011
- Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year: 2008–09, 2009–10
- PFA Young Player of the Year: 2013–14
- UNFP Player of the Month: March 2010, March 2011, March 2012, April 2012
- Premier League Player of the Month: October 2016, September 2018
- PFA Fans’ Premier League Player of the Month: October 2016
- Premier League Playmaker of the Season: 2018–19
- Premier League Goal of the Month: February 2017, April 2019
- Chelsea Goal of the Year: 2015–16,] 2016–17, 2018–19
- Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12
- FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World 11: 2018, 2019
- PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2017,] 2018
- UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2018–19
- ESM Team of the Season: 2014–15, 2018–19
- FIFA World Cup Fantasy Team: 2018
- IFFHS Men’s World Team: 2018
Stats credit: Wikipedia
To this day Eden Hazard remains one of the most iconic players ever and to some he was even the greatest, for me, I believe he was the most perfect and complete player that has ever played. His ability to score, dribble, and shoot in his prime on top of his low center of gravity for me is on a class of its own.
Even though his time at Real Madrid and failure to win a Ballon d’Or due to an era dominated by Messi and Ronaldo that doesn’t take anything away from his career. Hazard makes my list for the all-time starting eleven and I have no doubt in my mind that he certainly belongs there. If anything Eden Hazard’s story makes me appreciate even more players I love watching because we never know when something might happen to them or hang their boots.
