5 club legends who wouldn't make their club's current XI

Teddy Sheringham celebrates scoring the opening goal
Tottenham legend Teddy Sheringham would no longer make the Spurs team

#2 Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea – due to Eden Hazard

Gianfranco Zola
Gianfranco Zola is a Chelsea legend, no doubt

If there’s one Premier League era player revered at Chelsea more than any other – from before the Abramovich takeover that made the Blues one of Europe’s most powerful clubs and before all the league titles and the huge success – it’s Gianfranco Zola.

The diminutive Italian spent seven seasons at Stamford Bridge and became a legend there due to his silky skills, spectacular goals, and most importantly for his vision and creativity – his ability to find a teammate to set up a goalscoring opportunity. He won five major trophies with Chelsea and was named their Player of the Year on two occasions.

Manchester United v Chelsea - Premier League
Eden Hazard is statistically superior to Gianfranco Zola

A lot of longtime Chelsea fans might argue that of all the pre-Abramovich era greats – the likes of Vialli, Gullit, Petrescu et al – the only one that would make today’s starting line-up would be Zola. Unfortunately, that probably isn’t true.

Why? Because in terms of a goalscoring, for a creative attacking midfielder capable of taking on any team in the world, Chelsea now have someone even better than the Italian legend in the form of Eden Hazard. Just look at the stats.

Both men have spent around the same time at Stamford Bridge – Zola had seven seasons there while Hazard is currently in the midst of his sixth.

Zola scored an impressive 59 Premier League goals during his time at Chelsea, but Hazard has already topped that figure, scoring 63 in essentially a season and a half less than Zola. Assists? Zola created 22 Premier League goals, a great figure, but again Hazard comes out ahead – 37 assists for Chelsea since joining them.

Could you argue that Hazard is playing in a better Chelsea team? Perhaps, but then the overall strength of the Premier League is better now, too. And you can’t even argue that Zola was capable of more individual magic, as Hazard has proven his abilities there time and again now.

Despite an inconsistent 2015/16, the stats don’t lie – Hazard has surpassed the Italian.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith
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