Europe's most wanted: Hazard is 21, plays like Ronaldo and is a target for the big three
By
Dominic King
PUBLISHED:
21:33 GMT, 21 May 2012
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UPDATED:
21:34 GMT, 21 May 2012
Tradition demands that Lille’s final home game of the season ends with a bang. After the players have finished their lap of honour, the lights of their stadium are turned off and the night sky is illuminated by a spectacular firework display.
The noise and the colour are enough to take the breath away but, this year, the exhibition had to play second fiddle to an all together more impressive event that preceded it. With explosive shooting and exhilarating pace, the pyrotechnics from the Eden Hazard Show were on another level.
‘This was a dream ending,’ enthused Lille coach Rudi Garcia after Hazard had inspired a 4-1 win over Nancy, scoring a hat-trick and setting up the other for Tulio De Melo. ‘We had beautiful fireworks in the first period. It was a nice party for him and the perfect way to say goodbye.’
Wanted: Eden Hazard is a summer transfer target for a host of top European clubs
Hazard, of course, is currently the hottest property in Europe. Armies of scouts have trooped to this corner of northern France in recent years, hoping to persuade the Belgian flyer to join their project, and his jet-propelled performance against Nancy showed why.
As it stands, it would appear he will join Manchester City, the Barclays Premier League champions, or Champions League winners Chelsea. Lille will receive a fee of around 35million for the 21-year-old and he will be paid handsomely. So who is he and will he be worth it
Born in the small town of La Louviere, where his father Thierry played professional football, Hazard’s mother, Carine also played football at a high level, while he has three brothers, Thorgan — a Belgium youth international who is at French club Lens — Kylian and Ethan.
Eden spent a decade on the books of Belgian second division side Tubize and it was there he was spotted by Lille’s scouts. They whisked him across the border when he was 14, indulging and nurturing his talent. He made such progress that he was catapulted into the senior side two years later.
Final farewell: Hazard scored a hat-trick in his last game for Lille at the weekend
Since then, there has been no looking back. Hazard is idolised by supporters of Les Douges (The Mastiffs) and the way he plays makes him easy to admire. Quick and direct, nimble and skilful, creative and deadly, he has terrorised French defences since 2007, with a style reminiscent of his idols.
‘When he came here, he covered the room in the house he stayed at with posters of Robinho,’ explains his close friend Emil Lyng, who left Lille last summer to join Swiss side Lausanne.
‘He loved him — that was until he started watching (Cristiano) Ronaldo. That’s who he wanted to play like.’
The similarities are clear. One of the 20 goals Hazard scored this season, at St Etienne in September, had Ronaldo stamped all over it, a slaloming, high-speed run that had defenders terrified of tackling him and ended with an unerring finish.
Dream team: Hazard celebrates with team-mate Joe Cole who was on loan from Liverpool
On Sunday night, as he put Nancy to the sword, you could see it again. Always elusive and brimming with menace, he roamed from side to side, playing on the shoulder of the last man and using his speed to devastating effect.
His goals were a combination of poacher and assassin, his brain was always moving a step quicker than three defenders who tried to swamp him. Predominantly right-footed, he was just as comfortable when pushed on to the left.
‘Eden may need a few months to settle in but he could easily hit the ground running,’ said Joe Cole, when asked how Hazard would adapt to English football.
‘He is a top player and is only going to get better and better. He has got the mindset to be world class.’
This was a celebratory night for Lille, who followed last year’s title win with a third-placed finish, guaranteeing them a place in the Champions League, but it became all about Hazard as he scored three times in a 25-minute spell.
Party piece: Hazard (centre) celebrates as Lille round off their season with a 4-1 win over Nancy
When he dispatched the penalty to complete his treble, his team-mates engulfed him and raised the pint-sized forward on to their shoulders. He has always been on a pedestal in Lille and nobody will say a bad word about him.
That, however, is not the case back home. You may expect Hazard to be the leading light of Belgium’s exciting generation — which includes Everton’s Marouane Fellaini and Porto midfielder Steven Defour, once a target for Manchester United — but that is not so.
He has won 26 caps since making his debut against Luxembourg in 2008, only scoring once against Kazakhstan. The most memorable thing he has done for Belgium was storm out of the ground after being substituted against Turkey 12 months ago and being caught eating a hamburger. He was banned for three games over that incident but served only one match.
Some Belgians feel that he lacks discipline, others feel that he has not been used properly but, as yet, he has not shown the blistering levels of form that have been so common for Lille. He is not even guaranteed to start when Belgium face England in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday week.
But he will be playing on these shores come August. City have courted Hazard long and hard, as have their neighbours Manchester United, while Chelsea’s sudden emergence into the race for his signature has provided an intriguing dynamic.
None of those clubs want to miss out on Hazard as he is, without doubt, the most exciting player to be crossing the channel since Didier Drogba left Marseille for Chelsea in 2004, and the send-off he was given at the Stade Lille Metropole on Sunday evening showed the regard in which he is held.
Before the game, banners were dotted all around the stadium that declared ‘Merci Eden’ and the applause Hazard received when he was presented with the French League’s Player of the Year award was surpassed only by the minute-long standing ovation he was given when substituted two minutes from the end of the match. It was an emotional evening and, to say thank you, Lille president Michel Seydoux had a montage put together that was beamed out on the giant screens at either end of the stadium to show Hazard’s defining moments. They even found time to replay that night’s treble.
‘Hazard finit en beaute’ declared Monday’s L’Equipe newspaper, describing his farewell performance.
Should he replicate those standards in Manchester or London, the headlines will be similarly bold.
MICKY HAZARD ON EDEN HAZARD
On his fee in 1985…
‘I joined Chelsea from Tottenham for 350,000 in 1985. It was a club record then, which shows you. Now it’s 50million for Fernando Torres.’
On his Stamford Bridge salary…
‘My basic at Chelsea was about 1,000 a week.’
On the Belgian protege…
‘He must be very good to have these clubs after him. People keep on saying we’re related.’
Any advice for Eden
‘All I’d say is, don’t base your decision on money, base it on the style of play at the club you’re going to. Go to the club which will develop you as a player. Ask if you’re going to be rotated or a regular. Look at Torres — he’s not guaranteed a place. Finally, I’d say that Tottenham is a fantastic place for a young foreign player to play the beautiful game.’
By Michael Walker
