Eden Hazard quelled any talk of friction between him andChelsea manager Jose Mourinho—at least for the time being.
“I don’t have a problem with him. We hope we can win a lot of trophies together,” Hazard said on Sunday, per BBC Sport. “Maybe not this season because it will be difficult, but next season and on.”
The reigning PFA Player of the Year has had a disappointing 2015-16 season, collecting just two assists in 17 appearances across the Premier League and Champions League.
During a Sportsweek segment on Nov. 1 (via the Independent‘s Simon Rice), BBC presenter Garry Richardson claimed “[Mourinho’s] relationship, particularly with Eden Hazard, was under immense strain.”
A little more than a week later, Neil Ashton of the Daily Mail reportedReal Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain were among the European clubs interested in a potential transfer for Hazard.
Mourinho has ostracized talented playmakers before—to the point where Juan Mata and Kevin De Bruyne were eventually sold.
The Special One ascribes to the idea that you knock down players, especially young stars like Hazard, before building them back up. In May 2014, he famously publicly chastised Hazard for a perceived lack of commitment, per Dominic Fifield of the Guardian:
Eden is the kind of player who is not so mentally ready to look back at his left back and leave his life for him. If you see Atlético’s first goal, you understand where the mistake was and why we conceded that goal. The perfect team at the top level cannot make this kind of mistake. Eden’s not the kind of player ready to sacrifice himself 100 percent for the team and his team-mates. I’m not happy [a player doesn’t sacrifice himself], and I’ve spoken all season and I’ve tried to improve him. But at the same time, his comments were not critical.
Some players are more receptive to that kind of treatment. Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech and John Terry were among those to flourish during Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea. Wesley Sneijder finished fourth in the 2010 FIFA Ballon d’Or voting after Inter Milan‘s Champions League victory under Mourinho in 2009-10.
However, De Bruyne spoke of his dissatisfaction shortly before leaving Chelsea for Wolfsburg after he “didn’t get any explanation” from Mourinho about how to earn more playing time, per Mark Ogden of the Telegraph.
In an interview on Oct. 17 with Matt Hughes of the Times (via theTelegraph), Mata also hit back at Mourinho’s criticism regarding his tracking back in midfield:
If a luxury player is a player who scores and assists and has good stats, then I’m happy to be a luxury player. I want luxury players in my team. I like creative players and players who do different things. It’s easy to say certain players are luxuries, especially when you’ve lost a game. When you lose a certain kind of player—the creative players—always get the blame.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Hazard give similar comments a year or two from now while playing with a different club.
There’s no question, for the time being, that Chelsea will need Hazard to be at his best to climb out of their current hole in the Premier League table.
