Dubai: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s monopoly over world football could soon be broken by Eden Hazard, according to pundits, after he won the PFA Player of the Year award late on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Belgian winger has scored 18 goals in all competitions for English Premier League (EPL) leaders Chelsea this season, lifting the League Cup and putting them on the verge of their fifth league title.
Former AC Milan playmaker Kaka was the last player other than Barcelona’s Messi and Real Madrid’s Ronaldo to win the Fifa World Player of the Year or Fifa Ballon D’Or, back in 2007.
But Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho recently said of his star player: “He’s a kid but he knows that he is one of the three best players in the world, he is coping with that responsibility. I’ve had lots of stars. Hopefully in every club I’ve worked I’ve had stars, but he is the humble star.”
And pundits believe we won’t have to wait long to see Messi and Ronaldo’s seven-year stranglehold on world football’s top individual prize ended.
Former Newcastle United and England striker Alan Shearer told the BBC: “At 24, Hazard is only going to get better. In three or four years, I think we could be talking about the Belgian being the best player in the world — he has the potential to be that good.”
Former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder Graeme Souness wrote in his column in the Sunday Times: “He’s elusive in the way that Messi and Ronaldo are. When a defender sticks out a leg to tackle him he’s no longer there. The ball is never more than nine inches from his boot, which makes it really difficult for them to pin him down.”
Real Madrid reserve team coach Zinedine Zidane even said he preferred Hazard to Messi and Ronaldo.
“Obviously, there is Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, both of whom are spectacular, but I like Eden Hazard more,” said the former France midfielder. “I like everything he does on the field. I like his behaviour, his decisiveness and love to see his progress every year.”
Without Hazard’s 13 EPL goals this season, Chelsea would be currently ranked fourth in the standings, one point behind Manchester United, as opposed to being ten points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal with five games remaining, as they are now.
And it’s his ability to win matches that has seen Chelsea apart from the rest this season, according to Shearer.
“In the early part of the season, Chelsea were scoring goals for fun, but in the last few weeks they have become more workmanlike. Their form has dipped but their results haven’t and Hazard is one of the biggest reasons for that,” he said.
“He is the one player who has consistently produced pieces of magic for them at vital times to decide tight games, like he did with his winner against Manchester United last weekend.”
Bought from French side Lille for £32 million (Dh178 million) in 2012, Hazard is now valued at £100 million by Mourinho, but despite revealing that he’s happy at Stamford Bridge after rumoured interest from Real Madrid, the irony is that in order to beat the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, he may have to join them.
