Hazard Was More Talented Than Salah, But Salah Proved Better Than Hazard Overall

And after all the burgers and fries, Hazard never dared do this (below)

*This was something I started writing before the diagnosis, during the international break, of various lower back issues including a double-fractured spine, as well as glaucoma, as a weird combination.*

*I've been advised to rest for a while, but I thought I'd just spend a little time finishing this article that was topical about two weeks ago!*

Hazard Was More Talented Than Salah, But Salah Proved Better Than Hazard Overall

The newly retired Eden Hazard brought fans of Chelsea, Lille and Belgium joy (Real Madrid, less so), and had success. But he also wasted his talent, and his Chelsea and Belgium did not exceed the sum of their talented parts.

He was undeniably lazy, and yet did enough to thrill; but did he do enough?

I saw him play live at Anfield, and he was terrifying. Yet for whole seasons he'd go missing.

When Hazard announced his retirement I saw comparisons with Mo Salah.

Not that it matters, in that Chelsea had great success with Hazard (albeit also real slumps), and Liverpool had great success with a player who Chelsea offloaded; but if the question has to be asked, you can see how one threw away his peak-years talent with laziness and poor application (including eating junk food, not training properly and turning up to Real Madrid in terrible condition), and the other built upon his with a ferocious work and training ethic.

Hazard is actually the perfect example of what Jürgen Klopp and his staff asked potential signings ever since their days at Mainz: would you be happy coasting during the week and scoring at the weekend.

Hazard is that player; the one who would be rejected.

Because these types add nothing during the week, and actually subtract. They make training worse, not better. So the team prepares worse.

The teammates and opponents in training aren't tested and improved by lazy stars. The tempo of training is lessened.

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