On a good day, Eden Hazard is basically a cheat code. Yesterday was one such day. In the 84th minute he selected god mode. With two nutmegs and some footwork, he brushed off three Liverpool players to score an early contender for goal of the year and get Chelsea a 2-1 win.
Cesc Fabregas had spent the past four years urging Hazard to do exactly that more often, to be more selfish, to take full advantage of his boundless skills. Needless to say, Cesc is happy to see this 6-goals-in-7-games version of Eden Hazard.
“I have had some great moments with Eden on the pitch but maybe in terms of maturity, yes it is the best [form of his career]. He has always had the ability but he is at an age now where he feels he can be more dangerous. He knows when to pass more, when to dribble.”
“His maturity has improved a lot and now he is scoring goals, decisive goals which we all wanted from him. When you see the top players, this is what they do. They make a difference in terms of scoring goals. I think he needed that to make the step forward and at the moment he is doing that so hopefully he can keep it up.”
But it’s not all sunshine and unicorns. Eden is into the final two years of his contract. He briefly flirted with Real Madrid last summer and until he signs a new contract, next summer looms even bigger in terms of transfer rumors.
Fabregas, having made several high profile moves in his career back and forth from Spain, knows the reality of the situation.
“It was an easy decision [to hold onto Eden], especially now, because at this stage how much can Eden cost? Not many teams in the world can buy Eden Hazard. He still had two years left on his contract.
“Next year if he has one year left, that’s a different story. You don’t have as much power as a club. Eden is one of the best players in the world. But having two years left, especially how the market is, it’s basically impossible to sign him up. I don’t think it was that hard from the club.”
-Cesc Fàbregas; Source: London Evening Standard
It should not be a hard decision to keep him beyond this season either. The trickier part will be to get him to agree, ideally before the end of the season so we can avoid all that summer drama.