Eden Hazard's elevation to world-class

Hazard now crucial to Chelsea’s chances of winning the EPL

Eden Hazard has been in sparkling form for Chelsea in recent months and must surely be in the running for the Player of the Year come the end of the season.

There has never been any doubt that Hazard is a player of huge potential as Chelsea stumping up £32m for his services from his former club Lille illustrates but Mourinho, who returned to the hot seat at Stamford Bridge in the summer, has succeeded in expediting his evolution and made him realize his potential in a matter of a few months. He has been exhilarating to watch this season with his innate ability to dribble past defenders at pace proving to be a nightmare for the opposition.

There were rumours at the start of the season that Mourinho was unhappy with Hazard’s lackadaisical attitude towards training sessions in the pre-season tour of USA. Hazard started the season slowly, showing flashes of his brilliance but was struggling to make a decisive impact on games. It was probably just a case of him taking time to adapt to Mourinho’s stringent demands from his players.

Mourinho has been known to be a hard taskmaster who asks his attacking players to press the opposition high up the pitch and track back to help the defense at all times. It doesn’t matter how good you are going forward but if you aren’t ready to conform to Mourinho’s needs, then you will quickly fall out of favour as Juan Mata found out. It took time for Hazard to toe the line but now that the penny has dropped, he is reaping the benefits under Mourinho’s tutelage.

The realization that he needed to change and put in more hard work came when he was made to sit out by Mourinho for the Champions League game against Schalke in November as a result of missing a training session prior to the game. It was a setback for Hazard to be singled out by the manager for disciplinary reasons but since then, he hasn’t looked back.

Hazard has become much more mature as a footballer with the added responsibilities on his shoulder. He doesn’t seem content anymore at just endearing himself to the Chelsea faithful with his skills but seems determined to leave a lasting imprint on games. He is Chelsea’s leading goal scorer this season with his sublime hat-trick against Newcastle United on Saturday raising his goal tally in the league to 12.

Hazard has incessantly stated his desire to reach the level of the likes of Messi, Ronaldo etc. one day and if he can continue his growth under the guidance of Mourinho, that day will come very soon.