You wouldn't think we'd have any more reason to laugh at Tottenham Hotspur. After all, things can't get much more comical than stealing a Champions League place off them by virtue of wining the whole thing, then seeing them hire a manager that we sacked for being too crazy. To add to that, we managed to steal Oscar from under their noses (and thankfully we did - the Brazilian's ability would be sorely helped at Spurs right now, as much as Moussa Dembélé has been impressive), and now, they haven't had the greatest start to the season under AVB.
But as it turns out, we do have more reason to laugh at them. Take it away, Eden Hazard:
"It's true that Tottenham tempted me because it was a young team which was third in the league. Unfortunately, the end of the season did not go well. They did not reach the Champions League, which tipped the balance."
Source: Daily Mail
So Hazard chose Chelsea because we won the Champions League? Good work Didier Drogba - amongst your last contributions to the club was to bring a little Belgian to the club whom we are all very fond of right now.
There's quite a widespread notion that all of Chelsea's summer spending hinged on that match on May the 19th, and in the context of these quotes, that's extraordinarily true - it's quite amazing to think of how differently things might have turned out for Chelsea in the transfer market. I'd hate to have seen a Tottenham side containing both Luka Modric and Eden Hazard.
On a broader point, this just goes to show how important the Champions League and the money that goes with it really is. Some people may see this as quite a sad thing, but the reality is we are getting to the point where teams are stripping the cup competitions of value by playing second string teams and thus prioritizing the Premier League. That's going to be an even starker truth in light of some of the expected line ups for tonight's League Cup games. These cup competitions just don't have enough value in them like the Champions League does to convince clubs to take these games seriously.