How much of a Hazard has he been so far?

Eden Hazard took the English media and football by storm, after the highly rated Belgian made an expensive switch to the south west London outfit. He spearheaded Roman Abramovich’s initiative of building a successful future generation at Stamford Bridge. It has been a tale of so far so good for the 22-year-old, who despite facing exits from the Club World Cup and Champions League, has a lot to look forward to.

The summer transfer window of 2012 brought joy and disappointment to clubs across England, but behind the scenes there were two formidable Manchester clubs and one London club waging a war against each other to bring one man under their roof. One man, who could change their fortunes by one touch of the ball.

After much speculation and a lot off arrogance sprinkled lavishly with absolutely no sign of humility, Eden Hazard announced his arrival to the home of the reigning European Champions. 32 million pounds was thrown out by the Russian oligarch, and somewhere in the corner of the world, Platini flung his French toast in utter frustration.

Chelsea were weak and frail after Drogba’s departure to China and under the new policy of playing ” beautiful football”, Hazard brought in the swagger Chelsea were to flaunt in the first few weeks under Di Matteo. He ended up grabbing assists after assists, as defenders couldn’t control the urge of tackling him in the penalty box.

Then the winter slump began and “poor, same old” Chelsea began to lose its wheels. Hazard however proved to be the silver lining along with fellow team-mate Juan Mata. With the Belgian’s form not being as explosive as it was before, his trickery and turn of pace provided odd entertainment to the Chelsea faithful. It had been a long time since Arjen Robben and Damien Duff had introduced themselves at the Bridge.

Chelsea dominated under Mourinho and in recent years by asserting their physicality on their opponents. Well built defenders along with solid rocks in the midfield was combined with an even more aggressive talisman upfront. Carlo Ancelotti brought a little bit of Italian flair with him, but King Carlo (as he is affectionately known by the Chelsea faithful) did not survive long enough, after going trophy-less in the 2010-2011 season.

Eden Hazard however, reminds the Chelsea fans of a very cheeky, improved version of Joe Cole. Reminded in such a way that he is the player who just does not look like he belongs to the team. One moment you see 9 players playing aggressive football, and then you have Joe Cole performing roulette after roulette. Hazard reminds you of the exact same. Just a little more cheeky with a better turn of pace and acceleration.

Comparisons against another transfer signing by rivals, Manchester United, were rife at the start of the season. With time passing by though, the sane United fans have even scoffed at themselves for comparing the contributions of Shinji Kagawa to that of Eden Hazard.

What separates the best from the others is the ability to step up in big matches and Eden Hazard definitely has the caliber to. He just needs to put his head down and work hard to squirm out better results for himself and the team.

Hazard set the standard for players entering into the English Premier League from other domestic leagues around the world in 2012. The possibility of becoming the best foreign import ever is also on the horizon, as the young Belgian is definitely on the right path.