Why Chelsea's Eden Hazard can become a “Ronaldo-Ribery Hybrid”

Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard‘s ability was easy to pick out from a young age. After eight years at Royal Stade Brainois and two years at Tubize, he was scouted by Lille and joined their youth squad in 2005. From the moment that Hazard made his first team debut, he had all eyes on him.

A snapshot of Eden Hazard’s incredible season so far

The Belgian regularly impressed and was often Lille’s star player. Before his £32million move to Chelsea, the winger had won the UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year twice and in doing so had become the first non-French player to win it and the only player to have won it more than once. To emphasise how special his talent is, Hazard was also the youngest ever recipient of the UNFP Player of the Year award.

The tricky winger has continued his development at a rapid pace. Since his move to Chelsea in 2012 he has excelled in the Premier League and been one of Chelsea’s top players.

Take a look at the 23-year-old and his playing style. He is very direct, attacking opponents and going past them with ease. Full-backs despise playing against him, due to his wide array of skills and an incredible turn of pace.

Jose Mourinho has shown himself to be very confident regarding Hazard as a player, saying that, “He wants to be influential all game…”, and also that Hazard now has the idea that as a top player he should be performing well in every match. The Portuguese manager always has his own star in his teams: in Mou’s first spell at Chelsea he had Drogba. He had Ibrahimovic at Inter and at Real Madrid, Jose had Cristiano Ronaldo. Judging from his faith in Hazard, Mourinho aims to make him the star.

Becoming the best player in the world needs to take pride of place at the top of Hazard’s priority list. Reaching this standard at the age of 23 leaves him with a lot of time to reach the level of players such as Franck Ribery and Cristiano Ronaldo – footballers who have reached dizzying heights at the peak of their individual careers. At 23, Ronaldo was blossoming into a world class player – one way Hazard can get the better of him is through his national team. Hazard’s prospects in the Belgian side look far brighter, even at this stage, than Ronaldo’s chances with Portugal at any point in his career. The difference could lie in Hazard inspiring his country to a trophy.

Despite not having the gargantuan goal tallies of Messi and Ronaldo, I believe that Hazard will be moulded into a hybrid of Ronaldo and Ribery. His assists and chance creation suggest that he will be more similar to the Frenchman, but if he focuses on his goalscoring in future he can add to his already impressive repertoire.

The impression that Hazard gives off is that he knows how good he is. He knows he has an immense talent. The skilful attacker receives a lot of praise, and rightly so, for he is one of the world’s brightest young talents. What will be key to how his career pans out is whether he has the attitude for the top level. Is he willing to dedicate all of his time to football, as Cristiano Ronaldo has done? Or will Hazard believe his own hype and let his arrogance drag him down, in the way that so many other players have? The ball is in his court.