Guus Hiddink has embarked on a personal crusade to discover what’s wrong with Eden Hazard.
|||Guus Hiddink has embarked on a personal crusade to discover what’s wrong with Eden Hazard. The Belgian’s disastrous season hit a new low on Wednesday night when he was booed by his own fans and heavily criticised for swapping shirts with Angel Di Maria at half-time. Here, Sportsmail reveals the truth behind Hazard’s slump.
Drogba departure
HIDDINK could do a lot worse than give Didier Drogba a quick call. Hazard’s poor season is not solely down to Drogba’s departure to the MLS last summer, of course, but the Chelsea legend played an important role in Hazard’s success.
There are two ways to motivate a footballer: a kick up the backside or an arm around the shoulder. Hazard falls into the second category. He’s a home bird. He turns up to training, does his work then drives to his family home just a stone’s throw from the club’s training complex.
He often catches the Eurostar back to Belgium or France to visit family and friends when given two days off.
Drogba was his confidant. If something bothered Hazard, he would turn to Drogba, who more often than not solved his problem.
Hazard struggled to understand why Jose Mourninho wanted him to do so much defensive work.
A quick chat with Drogba fixed everything. Last season, Hazard’s defensive discipline was as impressive as his attacking exploits.
This season, without Drogba, those standards have plummeted. The pair still talk and text regularly but there is no substitute for face-to-face contact.
Jose Mourinho
HAZARD’S relationship with Mourinho was complex, and took its toll on him.
Mourinho saw so much potential in Hazard that he was determined to extract every last drop.
We saw the fruits of his labours last season as Chelsea won the Premier League and Hazard picked up gong after gong. But physically and mentally, Mourinho pushed Hazard to the limit, and Hazard found his manager difficult to read.
He hated Mourinho’s public criticism of him, particularly the claim that Hazard was unwilling to sacrifice himself fully for his team-mates.
As Chelsea spiralled out of control earlier this season, Mourinho lashed out again, publicly questioning Hazard’s work-rate.
The public insults infuriated Hazard, who did not have Drogba to turn to. Hazard also grew increasingly frustrated at Mourinho’s tactics. He would become accustomed to a counter-attacking style, but couldn’t understand why the Portuguese persisted with the tactics given how poor results were.
Mourinho remains a fan of Hazard despite their rocky relationship but he didn’t see a warrior in the little winger, feeling he didn’t show any strength of character when the going got tough.
Injury hell
THE next 12 months will determine if Hazard has what it takes to fulfil his huge potential.
His career has been on a constant upward curve since he made his debut for Lille as a 16-year-old.
This is the first season Hazard’s career has hit a dip. The cheers have turned to jeers, and he is struggling to cope.
Injuries haven’t helped. Chelsea sources insist Hazard was only 70 per cent fit going into the clash with PSG, suffering from a troublesome hip injury.
His struggle for fitness is one of the factors behind his slump. The number of games Hazard has played during his career is catching up with him.
Hazard has made 461 appearances for club and country since making his debut for Lille in 2007 — a huge number of games for a 25-year-old.
There’s also a belief that the workload placed on him by Mourinho has taken its toll.
His head is in Madrid
IN an ideal world, Hazard hopes to leave this summer for a dream move to Real Madrid. Paris Saint-Germain are interested but Hazard, having already played in Ligue 1, wants a new challenge.
Some say he is so fixated on the Bernabeu that he’s forgotten about his day job. But Hazard fears his hopes of joining boyhood hero Zinedine Zidane next season are fading.
Indeed, he has told his team-mates he expects to stay at Stamford Bridge for at least another season. His poor form has not gone unnoticed by Real, who still need convincing of his talents.
It seems likely Real will keep a watching brief on Hazard until Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo are sold.
Hazard is pinning his hopes on a successful European Championship with Belgium, knowing Real’s penchant for signing players with the most tournament hype.
Chelsea could listen to offers for at least one of their top stars this summer as they look to offset the loss of Champions League cash. Hazard would be on that list, but his £70million price-tag would be too high for most clubs, particularly after such a poor season.
PR timebomb
Hazard will have woken up yesterday with a familiar sinking feeling. He isn’t a troublemaker, despite the controversy that has followed his Chelsea career — kicking a ball-boy, missing training after losing his passport, fluttering his eyelids at other clubs and now shirt-swapping at half-time.
It seems Hazard is a walking, talking PR disaster. Yet he isn’t sitting at home with a devilish grin. He’s perplexed by all the fuss.
Hazard’s the kind of guy who acts first, thinks later. Should he have swapped shirts with Di Maria? Probably not. Is it the biggest crime in the world? Certainly not. – Daily Mail
