Hazard, Kagawa or Cazorla - Who makes the biggest impact?

Which of the trio will lead their club to EPL glory ?

While the transfer window remains open for another week, there have been quite a few deals have been completed much earlier in the season. While the Euros and the Olympics did cause a delay, it seems like the best transfers have already been done – Hazard to Chelsea, Kagawa to United and Cazorla to Arsenal.

All 3 teams are in a transitional phase and all 3 players improve the teams considerably. Incidentally, all 3 are attacking midfielders. But who makes the biggest impact ?

Eden Hazard:

Eden Hazard picked Chelsea over United.

The blockbuster deal of the summer, Hazard was for long at the center of a 32 million Pounds battle between the red and blue halves of Manchester. The player himself revealed he would soon be selecting one of the two. In a climactic end worthy of any Bollywood film, after almost signing for United, Hazard chose the blues, not of Manchester, but Chelsea.

Unconvincing were his justifications about being part of a better ‘project’. Whatever his comments about Roman Abramovich and Chelsea, it was confirmed to every one that money had played a big part in it. United too confirmed when they revealed that Hazard’s agent had demanded 6 million Pounds in fees.

Hazard undoubtedly has the footballing talent to prove he’s worth every bit of the massive amount that Chelsea have paid for him. He already has made a good start at Chelsea with 5 assists in the first two games of the Premier League.

This is where his biggest impact lies. Many would be justified in expecting 10-15 goals from the 21 year old but Chelsea actually don’t need him to do that. The biggest use of Hazard for Chelsea is in creating goals as their strikers scored a combined (and pathetic) 11 goals the entire 2011-2012 season. The Blues’ midfield and even defense has covered up for their strikers considerably.

Hazard’s preference is to play behind the striker but has been used in the wings by Chelsea so far. He will also be expected to open up defenses for Torres but so far the Spaniard has been a forlorn figure up-front.

If Hazard can contribute 15 assists this season, chipping in with a few goals as well, he will have gone some way in repaying the faith Abramovich has put in him.

Shinji Kagawa:

Shinji Kagawa, is the steal of the summer, for United.

Shinji Kagawa is considered to be the steal of the summer by many, be they United fans or not. Kagawa arrives at United for a mere 12 million Pounds, excluding potential add-ons. The fee is remarkably low as he had just a year left on his Dortmund contract, but he’s considered as good as Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, who cost twice as much.

Kagawa was very much a fan favorite at Borussia Dortmund and his soft spoken nature only added to it. He has a similar personality on-field too. He’s a very nimble footed player and has a knack of finding space for himself. Almost too nimble for his own team-mates, as we saw in the match against Everton.

The Japanese attacker loves to drift in-between the defensive lines and open up the play for the strikers, helped undoubtedly, by his eye for accurate passing that opens up the defense. He is known for his pacy runs and long range shooting. He is even rated as highly as Messi in his ability to beat defenders.

For United, he will be a great addition. They’ve missed a player like him as they struggle consistently for creativity in the center of the pitch. He is also a goalscoring midfielder, preferring to play just behind the striker. He racked up 13 goals in his last season with Dortmund, which will be very welcome at United, considering their complete dependence on their wingers and strikers for goals.

United will also have to change their formation to accomodate Kagawa, most likely a 4-2-3-1, which is very welcome considering their one-dimensional 4-4-2 attack they’ve used for the past few years.

Santi Cazorla:

Santi Cazorla was snapped up by Arsenal from Malaga due to the latter’s financial crisis.

Santi Cazorla to Arsenal was one of the surprise moves of the summer. Targeted by Arsenal last summer, he instea chose the riches of Malaga instead. This time around, Arsenal got their man as the financial woes of the Spanish club forced him to leave. For a mere 15 million pounds at that.

As with Kagawa and Hazard in their respective leagues, Cazorla is seen as one of the best youngsters to have emerged in the La Liga. In fact, he was seen as the best player in La Liga outside Barcelona or Real Madrid, contributing 9 goals and 8 assists and helping Malaga qualify for the Champions League for the fist time ever.

Cazorla fits easily into the Arsenal set-up as they already use the 4-3-3 formation, which will see the Spaniard opening up the defenses for the new strikers Giroud and Podolski.

Cazorla will be seen as a replacement for the likes of Fabregas and Samir Nasri, who left the club for Barcelona and Manchester City, and also as cover for Jack Wilshere, who has been out more than a year and is unlikely to return until October at the latest.

So, if we were to debate about who makes the biggest impact from the above three, it would have to be Kagawa with Hazard a close second and Cazorla an equally close third.

While many will argue about Hazard being the better one, there is no doubt Kagawa and Cazorla are as good as Hazard. But the lack of a bigger price tag often pushes Cazorla and even more so, Kagawa, down the ladder. All three are incredibly quick with the ball at their feet and have an eye for opening up defenses with their precision passes. Both have good assist stats to back that up. So the only way to separate them is by seeing their impact on the team.

Hazard is a winger who prefers the midfield role. Hazard wanted to be guaranteed a central midfield role before transferring to Chelsea but so far he’s been used more as a winger, occasionally drifting into midfield. He has racked up assists but not for the main striker Torres, who was often isolated when Hazard made his runs. The Chelsea midfield has bailed out its strikers innumerably in the last couple of seasons, but is still failing its main task of supporting the strikers. So Hazard misses out here.

Cazorla started on the right in the match against Sunderland. It was clear he was better in the middle as some of his better passes and chances to score came from the middle. He even ended up creating the most chances on the opening weekend. But in the match against Stoke, his weakness came to the forefront. Although his pacy runs to the box continued, his passes further in lacked vision, often rendering his strikers useless.

Kagawa is a the best among the three as the team is set up around him, which makes the best use of his talents. We saw this in United’s match against Fulham where his partnership with Robin van Persie ripped apart the Fulham defense time and again. United have also long missed a player like Kagawa in the middle of the park, as they earlier depended upon their wingers to do most of the work. His passing was perfect, and his goal was an indicator of his uncanny judgement to be at the right place at the right time.

Who do you think is the best of the three ? Sound off in comments below