Eden Hazard played with a few of the most effective players on this planet during his stellar profession with Chelsea, Real Madrid and Belgium and it’s a global teammate that stood out as probably the most underrated.
Still just 35 years old, Hazard has been retired since 2023 when he left the Spanish giants.
It was a disappointing spell in Madrid after the club agreed a cope with Chelsea which might have been value £150m if he had met all of the add-on clauses.
The Belgian only ended up playing 76 times for Real Madrid, scoring seven goals, but did win the Champions League and La Liga twice.
In Spain he played alongside the likes of Vinicius Jr, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos.
At Chelsea he played with Frank Lampard, John Terry, Cesc Fabregas, Ashley Cole and many more stars.
He was also a part of the superb generation of Belgian players which featured the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany and Romelu Lukaku.
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‘Among the best midfielders of that generation’
Hazard feels all of them get the credit they deserve, though, while there may be one other international teammate who doesn’t.
Former Tottenham and Fulham standout Mousa Dembele had loads of admirers, but wasn’t quite seen as elite level and only won a league title once, with AZ within the Netherlands.
While he may not have been viewed widely as world class, Hazard believes he was comparable to the highest midfielders of his pomp years.
‘I at all times thought Mousa Dembélé was probably the greatest midfielders of that generation,’ Hazard told The Guardian.
‘People didn’t speak about him much because he didn’t rating goals, however the fans within the Premier League know he was a top, top player.’
‘Probably the most effective player on the ball I’ve ever seen’
One other man who worked closely with Dembele rated him extremely highly as former Fulham boss Martin Jol made an enormous claim concerning the Belgian.
‘We’ve had a couple of players over the previous couple of years who’re a category above,’ said Jol after Dembele left the Cottagers for Spurs.
‘Dembele might be the most effective player on the ball I’ve ever seen, and we lost him.’
Hazard was looking back on his profession, saying he’s ‘more of a taxi driver’ now as he has five children to take care of.
The 126-cap Belgium international recalls working with Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, remembering entering into the Special One’s bad books because of his carelessness.
‘I don’t have only one, I even have many,’ he said of tales of his time with Mourinho. ‘I remember once, throughout the first yr Mourinho arrived, I went to Lille to observe a game and lost my passport on the way in which back.
‘I wasn’t allowed back into England and missed training. I returned around 2pm. When the session was over, I needed to apologise to him. It was a very bad moment for me.
‘The following week, he pulled me out of the team and said it was my fault, but by the weekend I used to be back playing and it went well.’
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