Chelsea’s interim manager Guus Hiddink has said that he has never seen a player lose form as drastically as Eden Hazard. The Belgian was in stunning form last season winning the PFA player of the year award and playing a crucial role in Chelsea’s title triumph.
However, this season he has been a pale shadow of himself managing only two goals this season, both of which came in the FA Cup.
When asked if he had ever seen a player lose form like Hazard, Hiddink said: "Not so drastically because he was the number one and now he is at the end of a long row of players.
"That is difficult. So yeah, what do you do... to some players, [you say] 'hey, go away for one week on holiday' or whatever. He was away when he was injured, he went off a few days and you hope he can recover also.
"On the other hand, you must not dramatise so much. I think always you come back by trying to play like kids play. I think that is the best always, go away and try to think in the moment what you are doing. That is what I told him: 'Go and play like a kid'.
"It is also about when everything I say is not a criticism towards him, you know. If you see his skills and you see his spontaneous action, which he did this week in two or three training sessions... he was very light and you see his movements and they are, by nature, they are perfect.
"The conditions are there but there are also the conditions about how do you cope with the season he has had now. How does he react? He can be on a very, very high level but it is not just the skills by nature but also the experience in the career.
Hazard has a personality which is tough to read – Hiddink
The veteran Dutch manager also said that Hazard is someone who has a complicated personality and he is not type of player to ask for help.
"I think he has a difficult time and there are different characters," the coach added. "One is [expressive], more outspoken than others, [whereas] he is the kind of guy who is quiet.
"The worries are there of course if you are the most valuable player one year and then one year later you are hardly playing. That is difficult.
"He is not a player who is asking 'what can I do, what can I do' because of course this reward from last year (the PFA Player of the Year award), gives him a lot of confidence, which he had before but it is a big reward.
"Saying that, he is a quiet person and he is not coming too much to say 'how can I sort it?'.”
Hazard has been linked with a move to Real Madrid in recent times and the new Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will have a decision to make about the talented Belgian in the summer.
