Frustrated Hazard could also exit in Conte saga
The real cost of the Antonio Conte saga is the doubt it casts on Eden Hazard’s future, with some Chelsea fans ticking off the chances they have to see him in their blue shirt. Conte’s departure in the summer is expected. In Italy, the word is that he is exhausted and wants a year off, though Paris St-germain could try to change his mind. Qatar’s policy of throwing money at PSG is not working, so it might throw Conte at the team instead. The Chelsea manager’s relentless energy could shake up PSG’S underachievers, or so the theory goes. All well and good, but there is still time for manager-star friction to negatively shape Hazard’s thinking and damage Chelsea’s chance of competing with Manchester City.
Chelsea, who play Crystal Palace today, are caught in another swirl of uncertainty, with Conte antagonising Hazard by using him in the “false nine”
– or even real nine – position, despite being able to call on Olivier Giroud and Alvaro
Morata – both “proper” centreforwards.
This week, Hazard made his frustration plain. He said: “When you leave the pitch, you have the impression that you’ve run, but that you haven’t played a game of football. That’s a pity. We could have played on for three hours and I wouldn’t touch a ball.” Those remarks were bound to annoy Conte, who has an autocratic streak to go with his record of encouraging family atmospheres around his teams. Hazard knows he will be working for a new manager next season. But will it be a Chelsea manager? The Premier League’s second-best Belgian after Kevin De Bruyne is a world-class strike-runner and ball carrier. He is in that knot of players hoping to succeed Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as global personal award winners. At 27, though, his cabinet is comparatively bare (or bare compared to
Messi and Ronaldo).
A £32 million signing from Lille in June 2012, Hazard has won a league and cup double in France, two Premier League medals, a League Cup and a Europa League. In 2014-15, he earned both individual awards in England: the Professional Footballers’ Association and Football Writers’ gongs. A respectable collection, but hardly stratospheric for a player of his gifts.
For a while, there have been claims that Hazard is putting off signing a new Chelsea contract to see whether Real Madrid come hunting for him. From Real’s perspective he is an obvious successor to Gareth Bale and/or Karim Benzema.
Chelsea can afford to let go of Conte, but losing Hazard would be excruciating. He is the beacon of the team. And there is already a suspicion that Roman Abramovich, the owner, is not willing to shop in the £90 million£200 million bracket, which rules out moves at the Neymar or Kylian Mbappe end of the market. Chelsea have a dreadful history of allowing top players to leave – De Bruyne, Mo Salah, Romelu Lukaku – but have retained Hazard as their one megastar (unless you count Thibaut Courtois). To keep him beyond the summer will cost Abramovich £300,000 a week.
On the way out, Conte can afford not to care if he falls out with his best player, but Hazard’s frustration is bound to increase the temptation to flee.