🇧🇪 Eden Hazard

[LukakutoStamford 779]

Well that escalated quickly

[Styles 9,790]

Fact 1 : Hazard and Neymar are both incredibly gifted players.

Fact 2 : It seems that none of them has reached his ceiling yet.

Fact 3 : Hazard and Neymar, while playing in the same area (left-wing), endorse a completely different role for their respective teams. In fact, they could very well play in the same team without treading on each other's toes.

Fact 4 and the most important one : not only it is impossible to figure out which one is better than the other, it is completely nonsensical.

I will say this though, I only know Neymar, the player. But I know Eden Hazard, the person. And I daresay, who you are as a person is as important for a competent coach, as who you are as a player.

In the case of Hazard, he has everything as a human being to be the perfect team partner. He is humble, joyful, forgiving, hard-working, loyal and generous. He is mature, and a loving husband and father, and never drinks or party too much despite his young age and luxury wages.

He doesn't think he is above anyone in the team despite being its obvious best player. He is not a diva, even if some media would have liked him to be.

That's why on the pitch, he doesn't cheat. Doesn't get angry, doesn't try to take justice into his own hands and always respect the referee (as well as the opponent) however mistaken/unfair he may be in his decisions.

Also, he would never place his personal interests above the team or the club's interests.

That is what makes me think that Hazard has something more than other players of similar talent. This and the fact that Hazard never gets injured, despite being constantly fouled.

I don't say that Neymar is not like Hazard in that way, maybe he is I don't know him as a human being. But as long as I won't have proofs that Neymar is as great a human being Hazard is, I would choose Hazard over Neymar in a heart beat, no matter how many goals Neymar scored his last season.

This is beautiful. You're going to write my eulogy.

[Special Juan 28,765]

Kisses and hugs.

Not quite sure what your purposes is around here or what you are trying achieve. From my stand point it looks very much like you are on the wind up and are trying to work the ticket of the TC members......Bit of news for you, it won't happen whilst I am about, if it continues you certainly won't. Debate things in a proper way and stop trying to ruffle feathers.

[Jase 43,479]

There's only one candidate for Player of the Year, and it's Eden Hazard

[didierforever 7,349]

Will Eden Hazard win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award this season?
Yes - he's the best player on the best team in PL
No - I accidentally clicked no because there's no reason for saying no.

[Hkibou 622]

This is beautiful. You're going to write my eulogy.

Any time ! My fee is 100£ every 5000 characters

[sutro 1,026]

He should win it and most likely will win it with kane as ypoty.

not that it matter much but his invidual trophies would be like:

3x ypoty(2 in france and 1 england)

3x poty ( 2 in france and 1 in england)

also if he manage to get in the team of the year it would be the 6th time in his career,quite impressive for a 24 year old

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Any time ! My fee is 100£ every 5000 characters

What's your opinion about Nabil Fakir? Do you think he is a hazard level talent or more in the bracket of somebody like Nasri?

[rantdeville 195]

What's your opinion about Nabil Fakir? Do you think he is a hazard level talent or more in the bracket of somebody like Nasri?

That kid...is something special. No real objective analysis from me, as I've only witnessed him in two games LOL. I really hope he retains his instinctive desire to beat players on his first few touches, from what I've seen, he has all the tools to do it. Very strong and balanced, extremely quick, exciting...if nothing else. I pray that he doesn't go down the route of Nasri (post-Arsenal). Maybe you can get a much better analysis from someone else here, I've seen his name mentioned a few times.

[JDY 1,290]

Have no faith in these players to make the correct choice. This is Mulumbu of WBA's picks:

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Have no faith in these players to make the correct choice. This is Mulumbu of WBA's picks:

The muppet actually confused Hazard with Kane, he confirmed it on his twitter. He meant it to be Hazard - POTY and Kane - YPOTY.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

The muppet actually confused Hazard with Kane, he confirmed it on his twitter. He meant it to be Hazard - POTY and Kane - YPOTY.

He spelled Azpilicueta name correctly, though.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Bolasie and Lloris are good, but not TOTY good lol.

[MCM4PR3Z 411]

I've heard that many players have confused the two boxes. Many people complained about it, so Eden is not sure about his win.

[The Chels 2,502]

He spelled Azpilicueta name correctly, though.

There was probably a list of player names for each team or position. Can't trust footballers to think for themselves.

[Hkibou 622]

What's your opinion about Nabil Fakir? Do you think he is a hazard level talent or more in the bracket of somebody like Nasri?

Nabil Fekir is very promising, but very hard to read. The thing is nobody had seen him coming, not by youth national teams (algerian and french), not by the press, not even by Lyon's staff. Before Laurent Fournier arrived last summer, previous coach gave more opportunities to the likes of Benzia and Ghezal who are approximately the same age, and were considered more promising talents.

It seems impossible that no-one had seen him coming given the talent he has displayed this season. Something just ticked in him and he found all the keys to unleash his game. And I'm not really for overhyping and all, but I think we've found our number 10 for quite a long time in France, he will be perfect with Lacazette, Griezmann, Pogba and Schneiderlin for the years to come !

If he finishes the season with more goals and assists, he may well win best player of the year award which would make him the second youngest to win it after Hazard (of course )

What's really admirable is that he has been really consistent this season, a bit like Hazard who has spread his goals and assists thoughout a large number of games. Fekir was directly involved in a goal in 17 matches out of 29 appearances.

He is usually consistent during the confrontation, not so many drops in concentration considered his age, sometimes "messiesque" during 90 min like against Montpellier a month ago. He still has off-days where he is completely anonymous of course but not so much when you think about it.

His fitness is real good, his pace in the first 15 meters is admirable, with his low center of gravity makes him very similar to Hazard in that aspect.

His technique is quite exquisite also, very quick feet, quite agile with his right foot for a lefty, does not fear to use at least and seems to be a very fast learner.

His vision of the game is very promising but it is undeniable that he is helped by the fact that he and Lacazette understand each other like brothers, it's impressing to see (less than the trio Hazard-Sow-Gervinho of course but they're unbeatable ). Needs to be confirmed in a different environment, different players, tactics...

I think he is very similar to Eden Hazard but lefty and more goal driven. A lot like Messi in in fact but less talented.

The players he reminds me the most is Marcos Lopes of Manchester City, currently loaned at Lille. He's 3 years younger than Fekir but I expect him to reach his level very soon.

Both may well be in the Hazard bracket or hit their ceiling before that, but the talent is there. As well as the class and attitude, these little things difficult to explain that makes you know this is something serious.

Ultimately it doesn't matter how late the talent shines if it's there. Didn't prevent Ribéry to compete with the very best, and he was completely anonymous before his 22.

But there's a lot to be done, let's see next year if he confirms. We can also have found our new Ben Arfa.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Nabil Fekir is very promising, but very hard to read. The thing is nobody had seen him coming, not by youth national teams (algerian and french), not by the press, not even by Lyon's staff. Before Laurent Fournier arrived last summer, previous coach gave more opportunities to the likes of Benzia and Ghezal who are approximately the same age, and were considered more promising talents.

It seems impossible that no-one had seen him coming given the talent he has displayed this season. Something just ticked in him and he found all the keys to unleash his game. And I'm not really for overhyping and all, but I think we've found our number 10 for quite a long time in France, he will be perfect with Lacazette, Griezmann, Pogba and Schneiderlin for the years to come !

If he finishes the season with more goals and assists, he may well win best player of the year award which would make him the second youngest to win it after Hazard (of course )

What's really admirable is that he has been really consistent this season, a bit like Hazard who has spread his goals and assists thoughout a large number of games. Fekir was directly involved in a goal in 17 matches out of 29 appearances.

He is usually consistent during the confrontation, not so many drops in concentration considered his age, sometimes "messiesque" during 90 min like against Montpellier a month ago. He still has off-days where he is completely anonymous of course but not so much when you think about it.

His fitness is real good, his pace in the first 15 meters is admirable, with his low center of gravity makes him very similar to Hazard in that aspect.

His technique is quite exquisite also, very quick feet, quite agile with his right foot for a lefty, does not fear to use at least and seems to be a very fast learner.

His vision of the game is very promising but it is undeniable that he is helped by the fact that he and Lacazette understand each other like brothers, it's impressing to see (less than the trio Hazard-Sow-Gervinho of course but they're unbeatable ). Needs to be confirmed in a different environment, different players, tactics...

I think he is very similar to Eden Hazard but lefty and more goal driven. A lot like Messi in in fact but less talented.

The players he reminds me the most is Marcos Lopes of Manchester City, currently loaned at Lille. He's 3 years younger than Fekir but I expect him to reach his level very soon.

Both may well be in the Hazard bracket or hit their ceiling before that, but the talent is there. As well as the class and attitude, these little things difficult to explain that makes you know this is something serious.

Ultimately it doesn't matter how late the talent shines if it's there. Didn't prevent Ribéry to compete with the very best, and he was completely anonymous before his 22.

But there's a lot to be done, let's see next year if he confirms. We can also have found our new Ben Arfa.

He really is a very good talent, isn't he? Lille seems to be a good club to loan young, talented players to. We loaned Joao Rodriguez to Bastia and the lad rarely got a game.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Hazard is easily a better player in almost every way imaginable. He's also clearly the most inferior of Barca's 3 attackers. Do you think a guy like Neymar is even that close to a Sergio Aguero for example? But, yeah, Neymar's hype machine have done an incredible job to deceive people into making people believe he is something he is not. It's only a matter of time before the whole world realizes it. Neymar = biggest myth in football.

Neymar isn't a myth. He was single handedly carrying Brazil into the semis until he got injured. He's not the chump you're trying to make him out into.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Neymar isn't a myth. He was single handedly carrying Brazil into the semis until he got injured. He's not the chump you're trying to make him out into.

He's a very good player but nowhere near the media, particularly the Brazilian and even foreign media make him out to be. And you fall for it when you say he singlehandedly carried Brazil to the semi's, which is a bunch of nonsense. He's not the new Pele, or anywhere near Ronaldo or Ronaldinho for that matter. The amount of media hype he receives far dwarfs his actual quality, that's always been my problem with him and that's why I call him a myth. Will he be in my top 10 players in the world? No. But that's just my opinion anyway.

[Hkibou 622]

He really is a very good talent, isn't he? Lille seems to be a good club to loan young, talented players to. We loaned Joao Rodriguez to Bastia and the lad rarely got a game.

We have just recently been compelled to change the club strategy (basically we're broke) and try and get young talented players on loan. Before that we would rely priorly on our own players, and use loan to fill gaps on the bench with experienced players (recently Joe Cole, David Rozenhal, Ricardo Costa). I remembered lots of Lille fans (I was among them) were disgusted that our club didn't negotiate a deal to get De Bruyne on loan when selling Eden Hazard to CFC. It seemed so... obvious. But it was not in the club development strategy.

So actually Lopes is the first young promising player to be loaned to Lille, since 2005. His season has been good, could have been a lot better without injuries that kept him out of form for 3 months.

But Lille is without a doubt a great destination for young promising loanees. We have one of the best (and costly) training center in the world (not a joke, google domaine de luchin for more details), same for the stadium. We have specialized in our youth academy and developped a very efficient post-formation strategy (getting them between the age 16 and 20 and make them good players).

I think we are second or third in Europe in terms of millions won by selling players from the youth academy (but I expect Anderlecht would be ahead if they were able to keep them longer).

Also, a good loanee is guaranteed lots of playing time, as the competition level is clearly decreasing since a few years. Our coach gives lots of chances to youngsters, he is known for it (ex U20 and U21 coach).

So yeah, great destination. So spread the word ! Especially if you happen to cross path with Ruben Loftus Cheek, Charly Musonda, Nathan Ake, Marco van Ginkel or Lucas Piazon. We will desperately need two like them next season !