Eden Hazard to Stay at Chelsea?
Chelsea bounced back from their shock 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Leicester City to defeat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road on Boxing Day.
The difference between the teams was Eden Hazard. The Belgian forward was deployed in the false nine role by Maurizio Sarri and this appears to be how the Italian manager plans to use his best player for the remainder of this season.
Hazard showed his brilliance in the victory over Watford, breaking away in the first half to round the goalkeeper and score before slotting away a penalty he won himself in the second half to seal the points.
It is not the first time Hazard has been the man responsible for winning games this season and Chelsea will be desperate to keep the Belgian international. Following Chelsea’s win over Watford, Hazard has 10 goals in the Premier League, just two behind the top scorer and leads the assist chart with 9 this season.
Any club would love to have a player of this quality on their books and Hazard has long been linked with a move to Real Madrid.
The Spanish giants have lost their talisman in Cristiano Ronaldo and have been struggling to find their best form this season. A deal looked to be on the cards in the summer but nothing materialised and Hazard remained at Stamford Bridge.
However, this season the odds have been as low as 4/6 with Ladbrokes for Hazard to leave Chelsea and join the Spanish giants at the end of the 2018/19 campaign. A move in the January transfer window was always going to be unlikely and Betfair have Hazard out at 8/1 to leave Chelsea in January and 10/1 to join Real Madrid during the winter transfer window.
Despite being consistently linked with a move to Real Madrid, Hazard’s comments after the win over Watford appear to have put a slight doubt in the potential move.
Speaking after his brace at Vicarage Road, Hazard said, “I want to score more for this club and then try to be a legend like Lampard, Terry, Drogba, I try to do my best. But when we are winning we can enjoy a lot.”
This suggests Hazard has his sights on becoming one of the greatest players to wear the Chelsea shirt. He celebrated scoring his 100th and 101st goals for the club against Watford by stating his desire to become a legend at the club and that will not happen if he leaves, now or in the summer.
In terms of next club odds, Real Madrid remain the favourites at 6/5 with PaddyPower, Paris Saint-Germain at 5/1 with Barcelona out at 10/1.
However, Hazard’s short term future seems to be at Chelsea but come the end of the season, it could be a different matter.